DC To Lose Needle Exchange As HIV Rate Climbs

Though it has the highest rate of HIV infection in the country, DC is about to lose its free needle exchange program, PreventionWorks, due to lack of funds. Writes Petula Dvorak for the Washington Post,

The average cost of lifetime care for someone with HIV/AIDS is about $385,200. You know who’s paying that in many cases. PreventionWorks was getting about $300,000 a year from the city budget. It collapsed while waiting for $130,000 in delayed funds.

And now DC’s 600,000 residents will lose a program that was keeping many of them safe.