World AIDS Day Reminder: Norton Joins DC Residents on Save DC Syringe Exchange Program

WORLD AIDS DAY REMINDER

Norton to Join D.C. Residents

On Save D.C. Syringe Exchange Program on

World HIV/AIDS Day

Tuesday, Dec. 1

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) will join D.C. HIV/AIDS organizations and D.C. residents as they kick off "Save D.C. Syringe Exchange Program Day," beginning World HIV/AIDS Day activities here, tomorrow, Tues., Dec. 1, 9:30 a.m., room 2154 Rayburn House Office Building at a press conference to be followed by congressional visits being organized by HIV/AIDS organizations. Members of Congress, once again, added a virtual ban on D.C. using its local funds for syringe exchange programs in a House appropriations bill, which residents are seeking to remove.

At the press conference three D.C. residents will share their stories: a former 20-year federal employee with HIV who used drugs and likely contracted HIV through dirty syringes before Norton had the old ban on syringe exchange programs lifted in the last session; a young woman who carries core antibodies of Hepatitis B contracted from her heroin-addicted mother; and a 62-year-old woman, who is a recovering drug addict and alcoholic who contracted the HIV through unprotected sex. Adults aged 50 and older accounted for 15 percent of new HIV/AIDS diagnoses in 2007, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Speakers also will include executives from D.C. HIV/AIDS service organizations, including Dr. Phil Terry-Smith, director, Prevention Works, which offers a syringe exchange program; Dr. Rev. Christine Y. Wiley, pastor, Covenant Baptist Church, an AIDS activist who offers weekly HIV testing at the church in addition to other services and outreach; Don Blanchon, executive director, Whitman Walker Clinic, which offered the first syringe exchange program in D.C. through Prevention Works before the program was eliminated by the congressional ban on D.C. using local taxpayer funds for syringe exchange programs; and Vincent A. Keane, president and CEO, Unity Health Care.

Immediately following the press conference residents and D.C. HIV/AIDS advocates will meet with House and Senate Members to encourage their support for removing a syringe exchange rider currently pending on a D.C. Appropriations bill.

Among the organizations who say they want to meet with Congressional leaders are: D.C. Appleseed, Helping Individual Prostitutes Survive (HIPS), Damien Ministries, Prevention Works, Drug Policy Alliance, American Federation for AIDS Research (AMFAR), RAP, Inc., AIDS Action, and the Family Medical Counseling Service.

WHO: D.C. HIV/AIDS advocacy organizations and Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton

WHAT: World AIDS Day, D.C. Syringe Exchange Press Conference and Residents' Visits to Congress

WHEN: Tues., Dec. 1, 9:30 a.m.

WHERE: Rayburn House Office Building, room 2154