Needle-exchange programs are almost universally cited as an effective intervention to prevent the spread of HIV and other diseases among injection-drug users, but the programs continue to be hampered by a lack of federal funding, the Associated Press reported March 11.

There presently are about 200 needle-exchange programs in the U.S.; the programs allow addicts to exchange dirty needles for clean ones to prevent sharing of needles that can spread disease. The programs also may provide addiction counseling and treatment referrals.

But Congress has long banned funding of the programs, and budget cuts in states like Illinois and Connecticut have hurt alternative funding sources. "Funding for needle exchange programs in the United States has always been difficult because the governmental bodies have never wanted to support what they see as a morally slippery intervention," said Peter Havens of the Medical College of Wisconsin.

The group Physicians for Human Rights recently briefed members of Congress on needle exchange and called for an end to the funding ban, or at least to allow programs receiving federal funds to collaborate with needle exchanges that get funding from other sources.

About a quarter of all U.S. AIDS cases involve injection drug use.