PreventionWorks!
WISH LIST: $100: 1 week of fuel for the mobile needle exchange unit; $500: 1 month’s supply of condoms for PreventionWorks! participants; $21,000: vehicle lease payments for an entire year.
One out of every 20 DC residents is HIV positive – the highest rate in the nation – and about a third of the AIDS cases are attributed to syringes passed among injecting drug users. Nevertheless, in October 1998, Congress prohibited the District from using its own funds for needle exchange programs, making it the only city in the nation barred from doing so. The city’s program, completely funded by the District, was shut down. Enter PeventionWorks!, a needle exchange and harm reduction program that relies entirely on private contributions. Committed to curbing the wildfire spread of HIV/AIDS, viral hepatitis, and similar life-threatening infections among drug users, their partners, and their newborn children, PW! also distributes safer sex and safer injection materials, arranges access to drug treatment and detoxification programs (eliminating drug use is the best way to reduce the risk of HIV infection among drug users), and advocates for drug policy reform. A grateful donor wrote of her daughter’s PreventionWorks! experience: “Even in the fog of her addiction, she remained aware of the danger in sharing needles, and used your program religiously. I cannot thank you enough. ” Someone else’s child will thank you.
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