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Taiwan Quick Take: Needle exchange expands

The Department of Health said yesterday that it was planning to expand its needle-exchange pilot program for drug addicts to all counties and cities. In July last year, the department set aside NT$30 million (US$92,000) for provision of free needles and syringes to drug addicts in Taipei City and Taipei, Taoyuan and Tainan counties. The program also provides HIV testing and counseling services and offers free heroin substitutes such as methadone. The program was initiated after substance abuse emerged as a major cause of HIV transmission in recent years. Departmental figures show that sharing needles and syringes resulted in nearly 80 percent of all HIV infections. Although law enforcement agencies have challenged the legality of the program, Yang Shih-yang (楊世仰), director of the Center for Disease Control, said that the program is necessary to combat the spread of HIV. The department has so far given away 15,625 sets of syringes and needles to 1,925 people, Yang said.

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