Funding for nine Substance Use and Addictions Program (SUAP) projects and an upcoming Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) call for proposals

Backgrounder

As part of its efforts to address the opioid crisis, the Government of Canada has announced funding for nine innovative projects that focus on surveillance, education and training for peers and peer workers, and developing best practices for medication-assisted treatment.

Proposals were selected on the basis of identified priorities, evidence-base, cost-effectiveness, cost sharing, organizational capacity and partnerships. Preference was given to innovative projects that focus on new models of care, new ways for professionals to work together, and new ways of engaging people.

These projects are based in Ontario and British Columbia, but are either national in scope or will produce results that can be applied across the country. These nine projects complement the six projects announced in March 2018. The projects are being implemented across the country to respond to community needs and to help us increase the evidence base needed to respond to the opioid crisis.

The Government has also announced funding for an upcoming call for research proposals to evaluate opioid interventions:

Projects funded by Health Canada’s Substance Use and Addictions Program (SUAP)

1. Canadian AIDS Society (in partnership with the Canadian Association of People Who Use Drugs) to develop peer resources
   Approximately $945,000 will be provided to the Canadian AIDS Society to develop and disseminate an educational guide for people who use drugs and to promote access to care. Topics in the guide will include information on new and emerging drugs, safer consumption practices, overdose prevention, pain management, and opioid agonist treatment and where to access it. This guide will also be adapted for service providers.
   The Canadian AIDS Society will also work with service providers to remove barriers to care and ensure the meaningful involvement of peers in the development of policy and guidelines to respond to the opioid crisis.
2. HIV/AIDS Resources and Community Health (ARCH) to provide outreach and harm reduction services
   More than $200,000 will be provided to HIV/AIDS Resources and Community Health for outreach to individuals who are not currently accessing harm reduction services in the regions of Guelph, Wellington and Dufferin. The project will leverage the expertise of peers with lived experience who will provide naloxone training to people who use injected and inhaled drugs.