Activists Celebrate Federal Funding of D.C.'s Anti-AIDS Needle Exchange

This development, as I reported in Gay.com, comes as Democratic candidates campaign against the ban on federal funding for needle exchange programs designed to reduce rates of HIV and AIDS in communities the epidemic has hit hard. Washington is one such city. And activists will certainly continue to use Congress' decision to allow the District to fund these programs to pressure Capitol Hill to lift the ban on federal funding of these initiatives.

As activists and public health officials continue to push Congress to lift the ban on federally funded syringe-exchange programs, a number of LGBT and HIV/AIDS organizations gathered on Capitol Hill to commemorate congressional funding of these initiatives in the District of Columbia.

Congress voted last year to allow only the district, which it supports and over which it has special oversight, to fund these programs as part of its efforts to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Washington, D.C. has one of the country's highest rates of new infections. Channing Wickham, executive director of the Washington AIDS Partnership, contends syringe-exchange programs are an effective way to curb the epidemic.

"With the highest HIV/AIDS rates in the country, the Washington AIDS Partnership is pleased that the District of Columbia will at last be able to spend local tax dollars on this life-saving HIV prevention strategy," Wickham said. "After many years of effort by a broad coalition of advocates, it is encouraging to see that common sense and the unquestioned efficacy of syringe exchange to slow the rate of new HIV infections have prevailed."

Human Rights Campaign president Joe Solmonese agreed. "With HIV and AIDS threatening public health, the end of the ban on the district using its funds to operate syringe-exchange programs in Washington is long overdue," Solmonese said.

The U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services enacted the ban in 1988 with the stipulation that allowed the department's chief to determine if syringe exchange programs reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS without increasing rates of intravenous drug use.

Then-Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala issued a statement supporting these initiatives in 1998 while Surgeon General David Satcher concluded in 2000 that syringe-exchange programs are effective as part of a comprehensive HIV/AIDS strategy.

Numerous scientific studies, including a 2004 report published by the World Health Organization, further indicate syringe-exchange programs reduce HIV/AIDS rates without increased drug use. More than 200 programs now exist at locations across the country, including Positive Health Project in New York, the Free Medical Clinic of Greater Cleveland in Ohio, Access Works in Minneapolis, Prevention Point Philadelphia and Clean Needles Now in Los Angeles.

Activists contend Congress needs to allocate federal funds nationwide to further reduce HIV/AIDS rates.

"We call on Congress to follow its own lead and tremendous success in ending the D.C. ban by ending the federal ban as well," said Ronald Johnson, deputy executive director of AIDS Action.

Solmonese praised U.S. Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-Washington, D.C., and other lawmakers on Capitol Hill who back federal funding of these programs. He again reiterated his call to lift the ban.

"We salute congressional leaders for leading the effort to repeal this harmful policy and urge Congress to end the federal ban," Solmonese said.