The Intelligencer
Whether it be willful ignorance or a genuine misunderstanding of the broad range of strategies necessary to tackle a dual public health crisis in Appalachia, elected officials and policymakers are handicapping efforts against one of the major dangers spawned by our region’s substance abuse epidemic.
A KFF Health News report followed up on federal health officials’ effort a few years back to assess an outbreak of HIV in central Appalachia.
The outbreak has been fueled by the shared use of needles among those who inject opioids or methamphetamine.
But syringe exchange programs became an easy target for politicians who in some communities chose to put crippling restraints on them. Unfortunately, in many cases, county departments of health made it easy due to the fact that they didn’t adhere to policies that called for a one-to-one exchange of a dirty needle for a clean one.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention called a 2021 outbreak centered in Kanawha County “the most concerning HIV outbreak in the United States.”
Read more: https://www.theintelligencer.net/opinion/editorials/2025/01/needle-programs-need-second-look/
