About the project
Opioids are responsible for the majority of drug overdose deaths. Naloxone, an opioid antagonist, is a medication that reverses the effects of an opioid overdose by helping to restore normal breathing. The take-home naloxone program trains and supplies non-medical bystanders to recognize and respond to an overdose with naloxone before the ambulance arrives.
Background
This project involves the implementation of a national take-home naloxone program, along with an evaluation of its impact. The program began in 2014 and is ongoing as part of the National Overdose Prevention Strategy.
Staff members working in municipal facilities that serve people who use drugs are trained to distribute naloxone. Naloxone is primarily distributed through low-threshold facilities, but is also available at treatment centers, shelters, and prisons. Other groups that are in contact with people at risk of overdosing have also been trained in the use of naloxone (family support organizations, police, security staff, and others). The program is open to anyone at risk of witnessing an overdose.
Take-home naloxone is currently distributed in over 100 facilities nationwide. It is available without an individual prescription and at no cost to the client. Since 2014 over 20,000 naloxone nasal sprays have been distributed.
Methods
Questionnaire data is collected upon initial and refill naloxone trainings. The data is used to describe who is being trained to use naloxone, how often it has been used for overdoses, and the outcome following its use. National registry data is used to map study participants’ mortality over time.
Useful links
The Norwegian naloxone program
Financing
The Norwegian Directorate of Health provides funding for this project.
Cooperation
This project is a collaboration between SERAF and multiple municipalities throughout the country.
Publications
- A rapid assessment of take-home naloxone provision during COVID-19 in Europe
- Who is using take-home naloxone? An examination of supersavers
- Staff preferences towards electronic data collection from a national take-home naloxone program: a cross-sectional study | Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy
- Risks and overdose responses: Participant characteristics from the first seven years of a national take-home naloxone program
- Rethinking ‘carriage’ of take-home naloxone
- Naloxone distribution and possession following a large‐scale naloxone programme
- Overdose prevention training with naloxone distribution in a prison in Oslo, Norway: a preliminary study
- Rapid widespread distribution of intranasal naloxone for overdose prevention
- The use of public health infrastructure probably the best strategy for national and large‐scale naloxone distribution programmes
- Utilizing a train-the-trainer model for multi-site naloxone distribution programs
- Circumstances surrounding non‐fatal opioid overdoses attended by ambulance services
- Radical red tape reduction by government supported nasal naloxone: the Norwegian pilot project is innovative, safe and an important contribution to further development and dissemination of take‐home naloxone