Reuters Examines HIV/AIDS Prevention Strategies Targeting IDUs

"Countries in eastern Europe and central Asia face spiralling AIDS epidemics if they fail to help people who inject drugs and stop the spread of infection, [Michel Sidibe,] the head of the United Nations agency for HIV/AIDS said on Friday," Reuters reports in a piece that examines Sidibe's comments on several HIV/AIDS prevention strategies aimed at injecting drug users (IDUs). "Infection prevention steps like providing needles, condoms and substitute drugs like methadone -- collectively known as harm reduction -- are seen by many experts as key to halting the spread of HIV and AIDS, but some governments are reluctant to provide them for fear of being seen to condone drug use," the news service writes. According to Reuters, Sidibe was scheduled Sunday to address a conference on harm reduction in Liverpool (Kelland, 4/23). In a second story, Reuters examines the amount of funding that goes towards harm reduction, as described in report (.pdf) released Monday by the International Harm Reduction Association (Kelland, 4/26).

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