DISCARDED NEEDLES A GROWING PROBLEM

To address sharp criticism of the province's needle exchange
programs, Health Minister Don McMorris has launched an independent
review of the programs.

The Ministry of Health received complaints from organizations such as
the Saskatoon Police Service about finding needles during the spring
thaw, said Rick Trimp, the executive director of Population Health
with Saskatchewan Health.

"Due to a number of concerns that have been raised, the minister
decided to launch a review of the needle exchange program to
determine whether we are using the best practices for needle exchange
in our cities," Trimp said.

Laurence Thompson Strategic Consulting will review the needle
exchange programs in seven health regions, with the largest
operations in Regina Qu'Appelle, Saskatoon and Prince Albert
Parkland. The review will be finalized by December. Thompson has a
background in health services research. His previous positions
include interim CEO of the Saskatchewan Health Quality Council and
CEO of the Health Services Utilization and Research Commission.

Although the province's needle exchange programs are annually
reviewed, this one will be broader in scope and focus on the current
patterns of needle exchange and historical trends, the best practices
for needle exchange programs and interviews with program
administrators, clients and community-based organizations such as
police, firefighters and schools.

During the 2007 spring cleanup, 645 loose needles were collected in
Regina, primarily in the city's North Central, Core and Transition
areas. In Saskatoon, 372 needles were picked up after the snow melted.

In the Regina Qu'Appelle Health Region in 2006-07, 1.9 million
needles were handed out and 1.861 million were returned.

"We've been pretty consistent in our return rates. If you look at
that number for Regina, that's a 98-per-cent return rate, which is
actually very good when compared to others across the country," Trimp said.

"The numbers have increased a bit because the program is becoming
more integrated in the community. There's the mobile vans that are
set up in some of these areas where there's known intravenous drug
users. Now there's a comfort level with those intravenous drug users
coming to the van and it's not only a needle exchange. There's also
other public health programs that are delivered through these vans
such as counselling and different prevention type activities --
handing out of information or even counselling some of the people who
are intravenous drug users on public safety and their safety."

In Saskatoon in 2006-07, about one million needles were issued and
873,000 were returned.

Trimp didn't have statistics on the number of needles collected from
playgrounds or back alleys for Prince Albert, but said 468,115
needles were issued in that city and 424,052 were returned.

He said it's important to put the numbers in context.

"Not everybody disposes of their needles back to the needle exchange
van," he said. "You'll see people putting them into the sharps
containers in public washrooms or into the other sharps containers
that are distributed around the community."

Needle exchange programs are geared to reduce the sharing of unclean
needles among injection drug users and prevent the transmission of
HIV and other blood-borne pathogens. Sask Health recommends that if
people find loose needles they should contact local public health
offices or police.

Trimp said that since the needle exchange program was implemented in
1999 no Saskatchewan residents have contracted HIV or hepatitis from
a needle stick.