Needle Exchange Programs and HIV Outbreak among Injection Drug Users in Vancouver, Canada: Addressing Some Common Misperceptions

Questions regarding the efficacy of needle exchange programs arose after a 1997 Vancouver study found that program participants who went every week had a higher HIV prevalence rate than those who did not go weekly. This article argues that needle exchange programs in fact reduce HIV infections, and that governments have a human rights obligation to ensure access to sterile needles. Prevalence rates in Vancouver are explained by a range of other factors, and would have been much higher in the absence of the needle exchange program.