Red Cross scolds 'failed' HIV policy among nations (HIV prevention among IDU's)

Kind of an odd headline for this piece, but a good article on HIV prevention among IDU's ~ pinto

Red Cross scolds 'failed' HIV policy among nations
By JOHN HEILPRIN, Associated Press – Thu Nov 25, 11:32 pm ET

GENEVA – The spread of HIV and AIDS among millions of people could be slowed if addicts who inject drugs were treated as medical patients rather than as criminals, the International Federation of the Red Cross said Friday.

More than 80 percent of the world's governments "are inclined to artificial realities, impervious to the evidence that treating people who inject drugs as criminals is a failed policy that contributes to the spread of HIV," the Red Cross said.

An estimated 16 million people worldwide inject drugs, mainly because it delivers the fastest, most intense high, in what has become a growing trend on every continent, according to the Red Cross.

The launch of the International Federation of the Red Cross' 24-page report — essentially to promote a new strategy for nations to stop the spread of the virus among injecting drug users — comes in the week before World AIDS Day on Dec. 1.

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The Red Cross calls the increasing rate of HIV infection among drug users who use needles "a public health emergency" and recommends more governments provide health services such as substitute drug therapy and clean needle and syringe exchanges.

It says studies consistently show that needle exchanges can lower transmission rates by as much as 42 percent.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101126/ap_on_he_me/eu_red_cross_drug_addicts_hiv