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Let the Needles Do the Talking! Evaluating the New Haven Needle Exchange

Yale School of Organization and Management, Department of Internal Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, and Department of Operations Research, Yale University, Box 1A, New Haven, Connecticut 06520-7368
New Haven Health Department, AIDS Division, 540 Ella Grasso Boulevard, New Haven, Connecticut 06519

New Haven, Connecticut implemented a needle exchange program in November 1990 to combat the spread of the AIDS virus. We developed a syringe tracking and testing system that provided data for mathematical models of HIV transmission. The models suggest that needle exchange reduced the HIV infection rate among program clients by 33 percent. In response, the Connecticut legislature continued funding the program, expanded needle exchange services to Bridgeport and Hartford, and decriminalized syringe possession. New needle exchange programs and legislation have also been developed in New York City, California, and Massachusetts partially as a result.

Key Words: health-care: epidemiology; probability: applications aids epidemic

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