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"Needle-condom plan in January"
The
Star (www.thestar.com.my)
(05/09/05)
Takes time for project to curb AIDS to start
KUALA LUMPUR: The needle exchange and condom handout programme for drug
addicts will be implemented in January in an attempt to contain the spread
of HIV/AIDS.
Health Minister Datuk Dr Chua Soi Lek said the ministry would begin
implementing the programme’s pilot project next year.
“The ministry needs time to get everything ready. The staff has to be
trained and educated properly before this programme can be introduced.
“We are not going to give the needles and condoms to just about everyone,”
he said after flagging off 53 Malaysian and Singaporean cyclists in the
Riding For Life 2005 campaign.
The event, a unique cycling adventure organised by the Malaysian AIDS
Foundation, the Malaysian AIDS Council and Action for AIDS Singapore, will
run until Sept 11, covering six towns across the peninsula before ending in
Singapore.
Dr Chua said initially the ministry would embark on a six-month pilot
project to supply free needles and condoms to 1,200 intravenous drug users
at selected “hot spots” in Kuala Lumpur, Johor Baru, Penang and Kuantan,
Pahang.
He said the syringe exchange and condom handout to drug users fell under the
Harm Reduction Programme which also include the supply of methadone, a
synthetic drug, to treat hardcore addicts, starting next month.
The government has allocated RM2.39mill for a six-month supply of methadone
and appointed 10 clinics, each capable of handling 120 addicts.
Dr Chua said the ministry had also set up a task force to monitor and draw
up strategies in implementing the needle exchange and free condom
distribution.
The task force would include representatives from the ministry, government
agencies, National Drug Agency and the police.
“This task force will also draw up strategies to implement the programme.
“The needle exchange and free condom programme is needed because 70% of drug
addicts are intravenous drug users. We need to tell them that they should
not share needles,” he said.
A Cabinet sub-Committee on Drug Addicts Treatment and Rehabilitation study
on 6,326 addicts in 26 rehabilitation centres in 1998 revealed that 65% of
them were intravenous drug users.
The addicts injected drugs more than thrice a day and shared needles with
more than five people.
The study also showed that 77.6% of the intravenous drug users were sexually
active, with only 18.7% using condoms during sex.
It revealed that the risk of contracting HIV among them was six times higher
compared with non-intravenous drug users.
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