A clean needle exchange helps fight HIV | News, World



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At the International AIDS Conference in Amsterdam, a doctor is on duty to prescribe methadone, a legal substitute for heroin, to delegates who may have trouble withdrawing.

counselors are hiring a "harm reduction" kiosk stacked with boxes on sterile needles boxes for intravenous drug users who need them.

This is an area where experts say that oppressive laws on drugs fuel the spread of HIV.

The center not only offers advice, but also offers to test the purity and safety of drugs, including heroin.

In the Netherlands, experts say that intravenous HIV transmission is extremely rare

Bakker, one of the "harm reduction" advisers present at the conference, said that About twenty people had used the service during the first three days.

According to Ann Fordham, who heads the International Drug Policy Against Ortium, an advocacy network, there was a 30% increase in HIV among injecting drug users worldwide between 2011 and 2015. [19659002] Less than one percent of injecting drug users live in countries where needle exchange is available.

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