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Syringe Access Fund

The Levi Strauss Foundation, Tides Foundation, Elton John Foundation and the National AIDS Fund have launched a new, multi-year grantmaking collaboration the Syringe Access Fund to support the prevention of HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C and other blood-borne diseases through increased access to sterile syringes in the United States. Funding syringe exchange is a form of harm reduction, a term that refers to various strategies and approaches for reducing the physical and social harms associated with risk-taking behavior. Rather than attempting to ignore this type of behavior (i.e., drug use) altogether, harm reduction strategies acknowledge that risk-taking behavior will persist and address such behavior in order to save lives and prevent disease.

Research has shown that using a harm reduction approach is an effective means of preventing the spread of HIV and other blood-borne diseases. Approximately 25 percent of all new HIV infections, nearly one-third of new AIDS cases (reported in 2001), and over one-third of cumulative AIDS cases (since 1981) are related to intravenous drug use. Increasing syringe access has been proven to decrease risky injection behavior by up to 73% and a worldwide survey found that the spread of HIV among injection drug users decreased in cities with syringe exchange programs.

In its first round of grant making in 2004, the Syringe Access Fund awarded 20 grants ranging in size from $10,000 to $80,000. Grants paid for supplies, program expansion and public policy advocacy. In 2005, 28 organizations received support grants ranging from $10,000 to $100,000.

Recognizing the urgent need for supporting this under-funded issue, and continuing their long-standing support for effective HIV prevention efforts, the Levi Strauss Foundation, Tides Foundation, Elton John Foundation and the National AIDS Fund will again award multi-year grants totaling more than $1 million in 2006 to support syringe-exchange programs and state-level public education projects focusing on policies to expand access to sterile syringes through the Syringe Access Fund.

For more information about the Syringe Access Fund or a complete list of grantees, please visit http://www.tidesfoundation.org/services-strategies/collective-giving/syringe-access-fund/index.html.