All eight Australian jurisdictions operate a range of needle syringe program (NSP) services and collect data on NSP activity. The NSP NMDC reports aggregated jurisdictional data. Although there are common areas of data collection across all jurisdictions, there are varied levels of completeness and alignment for some agreed NSP NMDC data elements.
The NSP NMDC Data Dictionary provides guidelines and definitions for NSP specific data elements. The purpose of the NSP NMDC Data Dictionary is to provide a framework for the reporting of NSP NMDC data elements.
Key findings
The following data elements are defined in the NSP NMDC data dictionary:
- Agency-level administrative data - includes NSP outlet type, method of service delivery and location
- Occasion of service (OOS)-level data - includes age, gender, indigenous status, drug injected, health education/interventions, referrals
- Needle and syringe distribution data - includes public and pharmacy sector.
