A southern Indiana county is extending a needle-exchange program to prevent the spread of hepatitis C and HIV among intravenous drug users.
Monroe County commissioners renewed an agreement this week with the Bloomington-based nonprofit Indiana Recovery Alliance to run the program. The county has agreed to pay $12,000.
Monroe County won state approval in December 2015 to operate a needle exchange.
Needle exchanges provide clean syringes to IV drug users to prevent needle-sharing that spreads diseases.
Monroe County Health Commissioner Thomas Sharp says the county is still facing a hepatitis C epidemic driven largely by injection-drug use. He says extending the needle exchange is the appropriate response to a public health crisis.