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Number of needles showing signs of HIV drops 50%

A year after a project to cut drug use-transmitted HIV infections, the percentage of needles used by drug users carrying the HIV virus has decreased from 18 percent to 9 percent, a Taiwanese AIDS prevention team said.

The team, jointly formed by National Yang-ming University (NYMC) and the China Medical University, made the remarks during an international AIDS prevention conference in Mexico City.

The team’s presentation caught the attention of HIV epidemiologists from other countries at the conference.

The research team collected nearly 1,800 needles from recycling points located in 33 townships across the country in March and last month.

Laboratory tests found that the percentage of needles carrying the HIV virus dropped from 18 percent to 9 percent.

NYMC’s HIV prevention and research center director Chen Yi-min (陳宜民) said that while it’s good news that the project has achieved some results only a year after it was put in practice, pharmacists, medical laboratory specialists and local health center workers knowledge of drug addicts still needs improvement.

Only about 30 percent of these people are able to provide accurate and correct health information for drug addicts, Chen said.

Questionnaires distributed to drug addicts who participated in the HIV prevention project showed that only 30 percent of them have been tested for HIV. The rest of them either have not been tested at all during the past year, or did not have the courage to see their reports.

Also, since each county and city outsourced needle recycling bins separately, the bins look different and thus would be difficult for drug addicts from outside the area to identify.

Taiwan first started the HIV prevention project for drug addicts on a trial basis in October 2005, and officially inaugurated the project in August 2006.

The project includes a needle exchange program, methadone treatment and health education.

Methadone is a chemical used as a replacement for heroine or morphine in anti-drug programs.

Needle exchanges, on the other hand, provide clean needles free of charge to drug addicts while used needles are recycled.

Last year, 3.6 million clean needles were distributed at 60 needle exchanges, while more than 12,000 drug addicts were treated with methadone.

A random test on prisoners with drug addiction in 2005 discovered that one out of five drug addicts was HIV positive, Chen said.

Although the HIV-positive rate has dropped, Chen estimated that out of 50,000 drug addicts outside prisons, 10,000 are HIV positive.

Chen pointed out that the biggest challenge for the government is that near 40,000 drug addicts have never been treated with methadone, and most of them have not been tested for HIV.

He suggested that if health officials could try to talk to drug addicts as they come to pick up clean needles, the officials may be able to educate them about HIV prevention.
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