Drug injecting triggers most Mauritius HIV cases

Drug injecting triggers most Mauritius HIV cases
A volunteer aiming to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS displays clean syringes at Baie du Tombeau, Mauritius, November 12, 2007. (Ed Harris/Reuters)ROCHE BOIS, Mauritius (Reuters) - Drug abuse accounts for92 percent of new HIV infections in Mauritius, up from just 14percent in 2002, the government said on Monday.
The Indian Ocean island nation has an estimated HIVprevalence rate of 1.8 percent, which is low for the region. Onthe African mainland, HIV infection rates stand at 16.1 percentin Mozambique and 18.8 percent in South Africa, for example.
But officials say risky practices like sharing needles usedfor injecting drugs are causing many more infections. Mauritiussuffers the second highest rate of heroin and opiate use in theworld, according to U.N. figures.
"Some 92 percent of the virus' transmission today isthrough the exchange of needles by drug addicts," saidMauritius' minister of health and quality of life, SatyaFaugoo.
The government was expanding a needle exchange program tosupply drug users, he said.
"Initially, we are targeting some 2,000 drug addicts byJune," Faugoo told Reuters, adding that the authorities werealso planning to treat another 1,000 addicts with opiatesubstitute methadone.
Mauritius has an estimated 20,000 drug addicts among its1.3 million population, according to government figures, butmany people who work with users think the real number ishigher.
(Reporting by Ed Harris; Editing by Daniel Wallis andCaroline Drees)