Pubdate: Mon,  1 May 2000
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2000 The New York Times Company
Contact:  229 West 43rd Street, New York, NY 10036
Fax: (212) 556-3622
Website: http://www.nytimes.com/
Forum: http://www10.nytimes.com/comment/
Author: Aryeh Neier
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n544/a04.html
Subject line by MAP

To the Editor:

Re "Heroin Carries AIDS to a Region in Siberia" (front page, April
24): H.I.V. infection in Russia and its neighbors is fueled almost
entirely by injected-drug use. These countries now face the
devastating damage done to Africa and parts of Southeast Asia by the
global AIDS epidemic. But there is a small window of opportunity to
act before the epidemic outpaces the capacity to control it.

To do so, more national decision-makers, foreign aid agencies and
nongovernment organizations must provide financial and policy support
for pragmatic harm-reduction strategies.

We have the capability: needle exchanges and methadone therapy are
effective public health interventions.

ARYEH NEIER
Pres., Open Society Institute
New York, April 26, 2000
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake