A recent study has revealed that Australia's advance and comprehensive use of clean-needle programs is proving quite effective in keeping a check on HIV rates among injection-drug users.

Seeing the global threat of HIV and AIDS, Australia started this publicly funded program in 1986. Under this program clean needles and syringes were provided to injection-drug users in order to prevent needle sharing and to culminate the epidemic of HIV, the AIDS causing virus among drug users.

Libby Topp, at the National Center in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research in Darlinghurst, Australia, and other researchers have observed a steady rate of HIV among participants in Australia's needle programs which was 1 percent between 1995 and 2009.

According to Topp, "There has never been a significant, generalized outbreak of HIV among people who inject drugs in this country".

He further added that introduction of these needle and syringe programs at early and comprehensive levels helped to prevent the problem of HIV transmission among injectors.

But these clean-needle and needle-exchange programs also face criticism as according to opponents, these programs send the wrong message and promote the drug use.

In contrary, many public-health and HIV experts still support the programs by referring to a 2004 review of the World Health Organization (WHO) that advocated the programs for reducing HIV infection.