HIV-AIDS

NEEDLE FUNDING URGED

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) is calling on city leaders to
allocate public funds to needle exchange programs to help combat the
District's high HIV-AIDS rate.

Norton said yesterday that a report released Monday that identified
3,269 new HIV cases in the District from 2001 to 2006 focused too
heavily on transmission of the disease through sex and not enough on
transmission through infected needles for drug use. The administration
of Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) pledged to combat the disease on several
fronts, including tripling the number of free condoms distributed by
the government.

Norton has been a leader in fighting a congressional ban on a locally
funded needle exchange program, which she predicted will be overturned
soon. In a statement, she said: "The report does a disservice in
creating headlines that the District has the highest AIDS rate
without, at the very least, mentioning the possible effect of many
years without fully operating and life saving needle exchange programs."