Pubdate: Thu, 03 Jan 2008
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Page: B04
Copyright: 2008 The Washington Post Company
Contact:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/491
Author: David Nakamura, Washington Post Staff Writer
Cited: PreventionWorks! http://www.preventionworksdc.org
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?137 (Needle Exchange)

CITY TO SPEND $650,000 ON NEEDLE EXCHANGE PROGRAMS

The District will invest $650,000 in needle exchange programs to 
combat the spread of HIV-AIDS in the wake of Congress's decision to 
end a ban on the city's use of public money for such efforts, D.C. 
officials said yesterday.

Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) and several D.C. Council members said the 
funding was an important step in a larger effort to reduce the rate 
of infection among residents. The city has one of the highest rates 
in the nation: One in 20 residents is thought to have HIV, and 1 in 
50 residents is believed to have AIDS, according to a study released 
in November.

Needle exchange programs allow participants to trade used syringes 
for new ones.

"This program goes to best practices to combat one of our greatest 
health problems," Fenty said at a news conference at the headquarters 
of PreventionWorks!, which operates a needle exchange program and 
will receive a $300,000 city grant. The remaining $350,000 will go 
toward developing additional needle exchange programs, Fenty said.

For a decade, Congress had barred the city from using public money 
for such programs, which can be controversial because the syringes 
are used to inject drugs such as heroin. Congress removed the ban 
during its recent passage of an omnibus appropriations bill.

Ken Vail of PreventionWorks! estimated that his organization serves 
about 2,000 people at 12 locations in the city and exchanged 200,000 
syringes last year.

In a news release hailing the announcement, Del. Eleanor Holmes 
Norton (D-D.C.) said, "The District's AIDS rate is artificially 
elevated" because of the previous congressional ban. "Now we have a 
lot of catching up to do."

Council member David A. Catania (I-At Large), chairman of the 
Committee on Health, said the public investment will pay off in the 
long run if the program is successful. "The cost of infection is 
immeasurably higher in terms of dollars and lives," Catania said.

Shannon Hader, head of the District's HIV-AIDS Administration, said 
she expects the city to foster new needle exchange programs that 
could take several forms, including mobile clinics and outreach and 
fixed-site programs.

Asked how he would respond to residents who object to such programs 
in their neighborhoods, Fenty said everyone should "be concerned" 
about the HIV-AIDS epidemic.

The 120-page report released in November found that HIV was spread 
through heterosexual contact in more than 37 percent of the 
District's cases detected during that period, compared with the 25 
percent of cases attributable to men having sex with other men. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake