The Department for International Development (DFID), United Nations Development Programme and Richmond Fellowship will jointly run a syringe exchange programme (drop in centers) for female drug users of Kathmandu and Lalitpur district, reports said.

Annapurna Post quoted senior programme officer of the UNDP, Imana Lohar, as saying that over 150 female drug users will be distributed syringes through this programme. The user has to submit the used syringe if she wants a new one and one person will be given only two syringes a day, she added.

The seven month long project may be extended if the programme is deemed effective, Lohar said. The organisers said 30 women drug users have already contacted them for the service, with many more expected.

The project aims at reducing the harms of communicable diseases through exchanged syringes. The women drug users will also get counseling on primary health care, safer sex habits and kicking the drug habit.

The number of women drug users has been increasing in the valley, but they are not coming forward to receive treatment due to fear of the society.

Initially the programme aims to provide support to 150 women, but will be extended to cover over 800 men and women drug users in the future.

According to Richmond Fellowship, there are over 500 women drug users in Kathmandu valley. 150 of them use syringe to inject drugs. Research have shown that infection of various diseases is high through transfusion of blood when the same syringe is being used by a number of people. There are around 70,000 drug users in Nepal and 40 percent of them use syringe to inject drugs. A report by Family Health International (FHI) states that 69 percent of injecting drug users in Kathmandu valley have been infected by HIV/AIDS.