UNDERSTANDING REGIONAL CHANGES IN HARM REDUCTION SERVICES IN ONTARIO OVER THE COVID- 19 PANDEMIC

Changes to the harm reduction service landscape A brief review of the literature was conducted as part of the LDCP to understand how access, availability and uptake of harm reduction interventions and services have changed in North America over the pandemic. [...] Objectives The proposed collaborative project aimed to describe regional changes to harm reduction service delivery in Ontario and the relationship of these changes to opioid-related morbidity and mortality over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. [...] The combined feedback was gathered through a survey, summarized and incorporated into the knowledge translation (KT) deliverables, and informed the interpretation of the findings, implications of the work, and next steps to improve harm reduction service delivery in Ontario. [...] The project group offered their own summaries related to the snapshot findings and spoke to the challenges and efforts made by PHUs and community-based services during the pandemic. [...] Findings reinforce the need to invest in locally-driven responses that meet needs of specific regions and are based on the population, drug supply, and patterns of use, and unique needs of the diverse communities across the province.