Mayor Adrian Fenty on Wednesday infused a privately funded needle exchange program with $300,000 in taxpayer dollars in the hope of reaching thousands of additional intravenous drug users before they are infected with HIV.
Fenty, joined by three D.C. Council members, delivered a check to Prevention Works! only a week after Congress lifted a decade-old ban on publicly financed syringe exchanges. The nonprofit supplies clean needles to about 2,000 drug users a year, while also providing substance abuse treatment and HIV testing in partnership with the District’s Department of Health.
“This program really goes right to where the rubber meets the road on this very serious health crisis,” Fenty said during a news conference.
Officials estimate there are upward of 12,000 injection drug users in D.C., who comprise 1 in 5 of all HIV cases and roughly one-third of all AIDS-related deaths. The District’s HIV rate is the worst in the nation.
“With such a large epidemic, we need every tool in our tool kit to reduce it,” said Dr. Shannon Hader, director of the HIV/AIDS Administration.
Though needle exchanges are well-regarded in many major cities as key components in the fight against HIV, the programs remain controversial. The White House budget office, in a policy statement issued last June, urged Congress to retain the D.C. ban, arguing that prevention and treatment are “superior public health alternatives” and that distribution programs “facilitate illegal drug use.”
Bush signed the spending bill last week despite the ban being dropped by lawmakers.
Ken Vail, Prevention Works! executive director, said the organization handed out about 200,000 syringes in 2007. Through the program, a drug user can acquire a clean needle simply by bringing in a dirty syringe. Future exchanges will be offered from mobile and fixed locations.
D.C. Councilman David Catania, chair of the health committee, said the expansion of needle exchange is a “moment long in coming” and well worth the price tag.
The District will grant another $350,000 to local health providers to add needle exchange to their existing programs.
