Report on the Drug Situation 2010 - Bundesministerium für ...

Figure 7.1Syringe exchange and syringe sales in Austria; 2005, 2007 and 20094 500 0004 000 0003 856 0803 500 0003 000 0003 089 2642 500 0002 000 0002 142 8891 500 0001 000 000500 0000194 9447 2762 30079 35481 078108 114Permanent syringe exchange/salespoints (e.g., low-threshold centres)Mobile services (e.g., bus)Vending machine2005 2007 2009Source: Substanz 2009; representation by GÖG/ÖBIGFigure 7.1 clearly indicates a further rise in the total number of syringes returned orsold compared to the two previous years surveyed. In 2009, 3 966 494 syringes orneedles were dispensed to drug users in Austria in permanent syringe sales andexchange points, primarily located in low-threshold centres (see Table A28 in AnnexA; ST10). A development worth mentioning is that in recent years the number ofsyringes distributed through mobile services (e.g., bus) has declined continuously.Here, the fact that mobile syringe exchange and sales services in Vienna were closed in2007 is related to the considerable decline in numbers between 2005 and 2007 (seeGÖG/ÖBIG 2008c). By now, vending machines exist in five provinces. In Upper Austria,the first vending machine of the province was procured for the town of Wels (see TableA28 in Annex A; ST10). In 2009 a total of 108 114 injection sets were sold throughthis channel. Since 2008, the number of vending machines in Austria has slightlyincreased (see Table A28 in Annex A, GÖG/ÖBIG 2008c).Safer use and safer sex continue to be essential issues that are addressed in thecontext of outreach drug social work, usually on the occasion of syringe exchange.Streetwork registered a marked increase in the provision of information on safer use aswell as advice and counselling talks compared to 2008, while crisis intervention andlife-saving measures were required less often (VWS 2010c; VWS 2009). In the contextof prevention of infectious diseases, information on safer use and safer sex (includingChapter 7 / Responses to Health Correlates and Consequences 67