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Last updated on Monday, November 28, 2016
(BLOOMINGTON) - Monroe County is extending a needle-exchange program to prevent the spread of hepatitis C and HIV among intravenous drug users.
Monroe County commissioners on Wednesday renewed an agreement with the Bloomington-based nonprofit Indiana Recovery Alliance to run the program. The county has agreed to pay $12,000.
The Herald-Times reports Monroe County won state approval in December 2015 to operate a needle exchange.
Needle exchanges provide clean syringes to IV drug users to prevent needle-sharing that spreads diseases.
Monroe County Health Commissioner Thomas Sharp says the county is still facing a hepatitis C epidemic driven largely by injection-drug use. He says extending the needle exchange is the appropriate response to a public health crisis.
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