Kenyan Needle Exchange Program Faces Criticism

Government hoping to decrease HIV prevalence

NAIROBI, KENYA — In the shadows of tourist resorts and villas along the Kenyan coast, an increasing number of heroin addicts—sharing needles and engaging in unsafe sex—are driving up rates of HIV.

By implementing a needle exchange program along the coast and in Nairobi, the Kenyan government hopes to decrease its national HIV prevalence rates. But the effort is facing resistance from community leaders at the coast.