Leading the Nation In New HIV Cases, FL Leg Considering Pilot Needle Exchange Program
Posted Feb 29, 2016 05:55 am | Public News Service
TALLAHASSEE,
FL – With Florida leading the nation in the number of
new HIV cases and facing a growing heroin epidemic,
health advocates say a measure moving through the
Legislature could help on both fronts.
The program would create a pilot in Miami-Dade County, run by the University of Miami Hospital, to establish sterile syringe exchanges.
Dr. Hansel Tookes, resident physician of Jackson Memorial Hospital, has been trying to create such a program since 2009, and says giving those who inject drugs access to clean needles without a prescription has been shown to drastically reduce the spread of diseases such as HIV, hepatitis and other infections, while also saving taxpayers money.
"We
actually looked at the data for the past year at Jackson
to see how many people were hospitalized with these
bacterial infections that come from using dirty needles,
and the cost to the public hospital system was $11.4
million over one year," says Tookes.
While the program would be the first of its kind in Florida, more than 200 sterile syringe-exchange programs already are in place in 32 states.
Despite having faced opposition in recent years, the measure easily passed the state Senate last week and its companion bill is awaiting a vote in the House.
Tookes says not only is the practice of providing
sterile syringes part of a strategy to reduce the spread
of disease, it's also a way to offer a hard-to-reach
population a chance at a better life.
"We form relationships with these people, we can refer
them to rehab, and just really let them know somebody
cares," says Tookes. "I have many patients who struggle
with addiction and what they say to me is when I showed
them I cared, it really made them realize that their
life had value."
Tookes adds after Washington, D.C. implemented sterile
syringe exchanges in 2007, the rate of new HIV
infections dropped by 80 percent.
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Photo: Armin Kübelbeck
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