EDIT: On April 19, 2021, Charleston City Council voted to criminalize needs based syringe exchange, going against CDC recommendations, despite the HIV outbreak. We are no longer distributing syringes.
When Charleston shut down its syringe access program in 2018, public health experts warned that an HIV crisis could follow. Now it’s here. In an in-depth piece from 100 Days in Appalachia, reporter Lauren Peace documents the fallout—including how SOAR WV’s grassroots harm reduction work tried to fill the gap Read more…
by Amelia Ferrell Knisely | Charleston Gazette-Mail A new case of hepatitis C was reported nearly every eight hours in Kanawha county last year. The number of men and women diagnosed in 2018 with the infectious disease soared in the months after the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department closed its public syringe Read more…
Full Article by Julia Lurie | Mother Jones In a Mother Jones article, “HIV Is Spreading in West Virginia. The Solution Is in Short Supply,” journalist Julia Lurie highlights a growing public health crisis in Charleston, West Virginia — and the warnings are stark. As HIV cases surge in nearby Read more…
Full Article by MetroNews Staff | WV Metro News In a major blow to public health efforts in Charleston, the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) has suspended the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department’s (KCHD) harm reduction clinic, including its syringe exchange program. The decision follows a state evaluation Read more…
This week, Charleston witnessed a major setback for public health efforts as the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department (KCHD) suspended its syringe service program. After months of mounting pressure from city officials citing public safety concerns, the health department paused the needle exchange portion of its broader harm reduction program — a Read more…