article_snippet.sent: As a result of the recent spikes in HIV and hepatitis C infections among injecting drug users in rural Indiana and Kentucky, the controversial topic of syringe exchange programs has come to the fore again.
article_snippet.sent: This is a welcome step -- an estimated 50,000 Americans are newly infected with HIV every year, and some 8% are among injection drug users.
article_snippet.sent: Dozens of studies have demonstrated conclusively how effective syringe services programs have been in the fight against HIV and hepatitis C transmission among injection drug users by reducing the reuse and sharing of dirty syringes -- without increasing drug use.
article_snippet.sent: For states such as New York and Washington -- early adopters of these interventions -- syringe services programs have played a crucial role in driving down HIV transmission among injecting drug users.
article_snippet.sent: In New York City -- where half of all injection drug users were HIV positive in the 1980s -- state lawmakers authorized syringe exchange in 1992 to combat the disease, deeming the disease a "public health necessity.
article_snippet.sent: The expansion of these programs in New York was followed by a dramatic reduction in HIV incidence among injecting drug users, declining from 54% in 1990 to 13% in 2001; hepatitis C prevalence declined from 90% to 63% during this period.
article_snippet.sent: Because hepatitis C prevalence work, syringe services programs will likely be an integral part of the statewide plans announced by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee to reduce new HIV infections dramatically by 2020.
article_snippet.sent: As HIV-positive injection drug users report higher levels of unemployment and homelessness, public programs such as Medicaid will ultimately become responsible for the expensive treatment costs.
article_snippet.sent: For example, an analysis by Johns Hopkins University researchers showed that expanding the availability of syringe services programs to cover just 10% of all injections in the United States would prevent almost 500 new HIV infections among drug users per year.
article_snippet.sent: The federal government provides the majority of funding for all HIV prevention services.
article_snippet.sent: Meanwhile, the new HIV and hepatitis C infections among injecting drug users in primarily rural states, such as in Indiana or Kentucky, show that the landscape of injection drug use in America is rapidly changing.
article_snippet.sent: We have a chance right now to get ahead of the curve and avert a nationwide resurgence of HIV and hepatitis C infections through injection drug use.
highlights_snippet.sent: An estimated 50,000 Americans are newly infected with HIV each year, CDC says .
  