SPRINGFIELD — Until now, a comprehensive study to understand how new and existing programs can reduce overdose deaths and transmission of HIV and hepatitis C has never been conducted across New England states.
But this month, a $12 million partnership between Brown University and several New England-based public health providers will mark the first time such a study is undertaken.
The research initiative is being funded by the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA), which is under the umbrella of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Over the course of five years, 1,200 participants from Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Vermont will be studied to identify strengths and weaknesses of current care for HIV-diagnosed drug users.
The project brings together researchers from Brown, the University of California San Diego, the University of Vermont and community partners. Tapestry Health, which serves over 26,000 residents annually in Springfield, Holyoke, Chicopee, Northampton, Greenfield, Westfield, North Adams and Pittsfield, has been chosen to be the primary community partner for western Massachusetts.
Their mission focuses on harm reduction. As part of that work, Tapestry provides drug-users with Naloxone, or Narcan, informs users of what drugs in the area are unsafe and laced, and does street work with mobile vans.
“There are a lot of people who use drugs, who are also employed, as well as people who are unemployed, and it runs the gamut across racial demographics as well,” said Tapestry CEO Mavis Nimoh, who explained the study will also highlight the distinct challenges faced by different communities. “It could be anybody really, particularly in this day in age, there’s far more people who use drugs in our region.”
Addiction is different from community to community, she said, highlighting that some of the key differences involve access to transportation and a lack of access to health providers.
During the study, the 1,200-person cohort will be kept in touch with to get a “relational-based understanding” of the problems users are facing, said Nimoh. Progression and barriers to harm reduction will be compiled, and reports will be issued periodically over the five years of this study.
“Part of the study is to get a better understanding of patterns, behaviors, sort of where people congregate, what social settings they have,” she said. “It’s the first cohort study of its kind in New England. Typically NIDA looks at bigger cities — the New Yorks and Los Angeleses to do these types of studies. So this is really the first time that they’re really doing a study of this nature in New England.”
Nimoh continued, saying that, “We are so vast as a region that access to transportation and being able to see a physician or get services in a timely fashion can be difficult, and the nonprofit apparatus is spread out throughout the region, and so that can be challenging for individuals to get where they need to go
“Because of those transportation challenges, also demographics look a little bit different, say if you’re in Holyoke versus Greenfield versus Pittsfield.”
She also said that conditions are worsening due to a “deteriorating drug supply.”
“We have a deteriorating drug supply filled with a lot of additives and cut with a lot of other toxins and substances,” she said. “We have xylazine that’s present in our drug supply as well.”
Nimoh wants the region to “really feel good” about the partnership, especially since cuts to federal funding by the Trump Administration have made funds from NIH more sparse.
“Given the time that we’re in at the federal level, there have been conversations around cutting or changing strategies around harm reduction, which would be devastating to communities, no matter what community you’re talking about.”