Peer Based Harm Reduction WA

01/03/2026

Trust is everything. When a product you’ve relied on for years suddenly looks different, it’s natural to have some concerns.

We want to give you a heads-up about a change coming to BD Ultra-Fine 1mL syringes - Western Australia’s long-time favourite.

What’s Changing?

Nothing really, except the brand name. You’ve known them as “BDs” for a long time, but they are transitioning to a new brand name: embecta. The boxes and cartons will look different, and so will the syringe wrappers. Even the logo on the side of the syringe will change.

What’s Staying the Same?

Everything else! We know how important it is to have equipment you trust. We’ve confirmed that:
✅ It is the exact same syringe.
✅ It is made in the same factory with the same high standards.
✅ The quality, feel, and performance haven't changed at all.

Why the change? The company that makes these syringes (formerly a part of BD) has simply become its own independent company called embecta.

You’ll start seeing the new embecta packaging moving through our needle and syringe program services soon, but rest assured it’s exactly the same product that you know and trust. If you have any questions or concerns when you see the new branding, please have a chat with our team—we’re here to help!

24/02/2026

20/02/2026

By now, many people are aware that treatment for hep C has changed for the better. 1 - 3 pills per day for 8 - 12 weeks is all it takes to clear hep C and get on with your life - but that doesn’t mean that committing to a course of treatment is easy for everyone. Transport, prescription-filling, and a lack of support or unstable housing are real life challenges that many people may face.

That’s why hep C treatment at PBHR WA is about more than just handing out pills.

Our Nurses and our peer Hep C Case Management Workers can help with support check-ins, transport to and from appointments, hep C appointments at your home, prescription filling and medication delivery. This free service is as unique as the people who access it. Just have a yarn with a Peer Worker or a Nurse to figure out what “easy” treatment looks like for you.

Keep your eyes peeled for our Outreach Health Clinic that may be visiting a service near you soon or come and see us in Perth or Bunbury. You don’t need an appointment to visit our Health Clinics but remember to call us beforehand on the day to make sure a Peer Worker or a Nurse will be available.

Perth: 9325 8387
Bunbury: 9791 6699

16/02/2026

Join the INHSU Community of Practice for Hepatitis C Care in Regional and Remote Australia.

Across regional, rural and remote Australia, many people supporting people who use drugs are experiencing the same thing: hepatitis C care matters, but it’s competing with countless other demands. This Community of Practice brings together people doing similar work in similar environments to share ideas, build connections and strengthen the path to elimination in the places where it’s most needed.

It’s free to join, flexible, and open to anyone working with people who use drugs in regional, rural or remote Australia — whether hepatitis C is central to your role or just one part of the support you provide.

You don’t need to prepare anything.
You don’t need to attend every session.
You don’t need to be a hepatitis C specialist.
You just need to care about improving access and outcomes for people who use drugs.

Alongside Burnet Institute’s Eliminate C Australia (ECA II) team and a national steering committee including PBHR WA, every session is designed to offer something you can use immediately — a model, an idea, a resource, or simply a sense of not doing this work alone.

Strengthen the care you provide and improve outcomes in your community by joining the INHSU Community of Practice for Hepatitis C Care in Regional and Remote Australia here:

https://inhsu.org/what-we-do/global-knowledge-exchange/community-of-practice-australia/

13/02/2026

Looking after yourself doesn’t have to be a “ruff” experience. On National Condom Day, let’s celebrate the most flexible tool in your health kit!

When it comes to condoms, one size definitely does not fit all. Lucky for you, PBHR WA stocks condoms in a variety of sizes for just 20 cents each.

Our needle and syringe program services stock a range of sexual health supplies including:

Femidoms - $3.50 each

Dams - 50 cents each

5mL l**e sachets - 20 cents each

Finger cots - 10 cents each

Beppy (wet) menstrual sponges - $5 each

You can pick up sexual health supplies by walking into our fixed-site NSEPs in Perth or Bunbury, at our Mobile NSEP Van sites in the South West, by accessing our Outreach NSEP home-delivery services in the greater Perth Metro area or the South West Region, or via our Statewide Postal NSP service anywhere in Western Australia. You can find out more about these services and click on our price list here:

https://harmreductionwa.org/new-nsep/

10/02/2026

The latest AIVL webinar is coming up on Friday the 20th of February.

Jailing people for using drugs isn’t justice, it’s a systemic failure that harms individuals and communities.

You can register by following the link in the original AIVL post below:

Jailing people who use drugs isn’t justice! Join our webinar on why criminalisation is a social justice failure.
🗓 Feb 20 | 12pm AEDT
Register here: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_pk3XrBYJRvuYtLVU1c2moQ #/registration

08/02/2026

Is it time for a poke around? It’s Sexual Health Week so, if it’s been a while since you checked in on your sexual health status, consider dropping in to PBHR WA for a yarn with our nurse.

Sexual health testing is quick and simple - it can be as easy as a finger prick and a urine test. And if you need treatment, our nurse can help with that too.

You don’t need an appointment to access PBHR WA’s free Health Clinics but it’s a good idea to call us first on the day, to make sure a nurse is available.

If you’re in Perth, call us on 9325 8387. If you’re in the South West, call 9791 6699.
See you soon.

06/02/2026

PBHR WA in Perth and Bunbury will be closed for the day on Friday the 13th of February. Remember to plan ahead by taking enough equipment and naloxone to see you through.

We care about your well-being. If you need equipment while PBHR WA is closed and you are in Perth, here are the nearest alternative needle and syringe program services until we reopen as usual on Saturday at 1pm:

If all you need are 1mL fits and swabs, you can visit our friends at HepatitisWA or Derbarl Yerrigan Health Service Aboriginal Corporation

Google Maps link to Hepatitis WA:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/pVf9kFVMEMhVX2f66

Google Maps link to Derbarl Yerrigan:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/u3hEPiKL5gQhzZR7A

If you need other equipment such as needle tips, barrels, and filters, you can pay a visit to our friends at WAAC.

Google Maps link to WAAC:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/zuQhBjudhqEHkzCs6

If you need equipment while PBHR WA is closed and you are in Bunbury, Bunbury Hospital Emergency Department is the nearest alternative needle and syringe program service until we reopen as usual on Monday at 10am:

Google Maps link to Bunbury Hospital Emergency Department:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/VKQQzPuDynJ3d64A6
Stay safe and we’ll see you soon, comrades!

04/02/2026

The It’s Your Right campaign is rolling out across Australia between February and April!

This campaign is aimed at making peer education, testing, and treatment for hep C more accessible. Over the coming months our Outreach Health Team will be visiting locations across the Perth Metro Area and the South West Region to bring our one-stop-shop Hep C Health Clinic to as many people as possible. We’ve got loads of great It’s Your Right merch to give away and the team is ready to yarn about hep C prevention, looking after your liver, finger-prick hep C testing, and all of the ways our peer Hep C Case Management Workers can provide support to help make hep C treatment even easier.

It’s your right to live free of hep C and PBHR WA are here to help you do it. Feel deadly, everyone! 🧡

31/01/2026

In February we move from the Noongar Season ‘Birak’, (“cool summer”) to ‘Bunuru’ (“hot summer”). Bunuru is represented by the colour orange and it is the hottest time of year in Noongar country. During Bunuru you can expect much warmer temperatures driven by hot easterly winds almost every day, and little or no rain. While the hot winds from the desert can make for some uncomfortable days, the clear night skies give us breathtaking views of the stars.

Those of us lucky enough to be close to the coast will get some relief from a cooling sea breeze most afternoons, and during Bunuru there is good fishing in the ocean and on our rivers and estuaries. For this reason, freshwater foods and seafood were major parts of Noongar peoples’ traditional diet during this season.

Bunuru is also the time when many white-flowering gum species come into full bloom, including djarraly (jarrah, or Eucalyptus marginata), wandoo (5 different Eucalypt species, including white gums and salmon gums), and marri trees. Marri and wandoo flower every year, but jarrah only flower every 4 to 5 years, although they do this in synch with all the other jarrah in their area.

Another striking flower to look out for is the female djiriji (zamia palm, or Macrozamia riedlei). These prehistoric looking cycads have male plants (which produce large pollen bearing cones) and female plants (which produce even larger cones which grow large, distinctive seeds). As the hot and dry weather continues, the seeds change from green to bright orange or red, indicating that they are ripening and becoming more attractive to animals, particularly emus, who happily feast on the fleshy outer layer which is highly poisonous to humans. Traditionally, towards the end of Bunuru Noongar people would collect the ripe seeds. They learned long ago how to detoxify them by soaking, burial, and controlled fermentation in an anerobic environment; this process turns potentially fatal Zamia seeds into an extremely nutritious bush-food known as by-yu (or kwineen), which is rich in oil and carotene.

26/01/2026