April 25, 2008

DC to Expand Needle Exchanges

Needle-exchange programs in Washington, DC, are expected to grow significantly this summer as almost half a million dollars in city funding will begin flowing to four AIDS service organizations, the Washington Post reports (washingtonpost.com, 4/25).

The funds will help the organizations PreventionWorks!, Bread for the City, Family Medical and Counseling Service, and Helping Individual Prostitutes Survive (HIPS)—which all say they plan to use the funds to build on their work with intravenous-drug users.

Last summer, Congress lifted a ban that prohibited the city from using tax dollars for needle-exchange programs. The district has one of the country’s highest rates of HIV infection, with intravenous-drug users accounting for a large portion of new infections annually, the Post reports.

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