Today is
World AIDS Day.
In 2010, the
PC(USA) General Assembly called on us to become and “HIV and AIDS Competent
Church,” to engage in programs that “reduce stigma, discrimination, and fear of
persons who have been diagnosed as HIV positive,” and to support public
policies that promote treatment and prevention.
Specifically, the Assembly called for increased federal “funding for
critical HIV and AIDS research including research focused on (a) infants and
children, (b) the risk behaviors of teenagers and comprehensive sexuality
education curriculum for teens, and (c) underreported, indigenous, and
special-needs populations.”
An overwhelming consensus of research shows that providing clean
syringes (needle exchange programs) to injection drug users is a highly
effective way to prevent the spread of HIV and Hepatitis C, and is credited
with reducing the rate of new HIV infections among injection drug users by 80
percent. Additional research shows that syringe exchange programs do not
increase the numbers of injection drug users, and reduces long term health care
costs that occur with the medical needs of people with HIV and/or Hepatitis C.
But Congress prohibits federal funds that are already being spent
on HIV prevention and treatment from being spent on needle exchange programs. Write
to your Members of Congress here.
Needle Exchange is one of the key public health interventions that
we need to implement a long-term strategy to end AIDS. But in 2012, Congress reinstated the ban on
using federal funds for needle exchange programs. The ban on federal funding
for syringe exchange was originally adopted in 1989 but was finally lifted by
Congress in 2009. Without a discussion or legislative debate, the language was
slipped into the spending bill before advocates knew what was happening. Contact
Congress and tell them to reverse the ban.
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is on the record in support of
Needle Exchange Programs – in 2000, the General Assembly approved an overture
“advocate[ing]… for lifting the ban on the use of federal funds to support
needle exchange programs [and] mandate[ing]… work to remove barriers that keep
drug injectors at unnecessary risk for HIV disease and Hepatitis.”
For more information on how to be involved in AIDS ministries, get
in touch with the Presbyterian
AIDS Network. And download their World
AIDS Day packet.
Write
to your Member of Congress now to urge lifting the ban on life-saving
needle exchange programs.
