The city of Austin has begun laying the groundwork for a new syringe service program (SSP) before the local, county-run SSP sunsets at the end of the year.

Scott County's needle exchange program has been credited with slowing the severe HIV outbreak that rocked the rural county in 2015, and is now seen as the national benchmark for how similar programs should operate. It will stop operating Jan. 1, 2022.

Syringe service programs, also called needle exchanges, provide intravenous drug users with clean needles and a place to dispose of used ones.

Commissioners in Madison County have failed to extend the county's needle exchange, halting local efforts to prevent the spread of diseases among intravenous drug users by providing them with clean needles.

Wayne County commissioners voted unanimously last week to extend the program until July 1, 2021. The exchange began in August 2016 in an effort to reduce the spread of hepatitis C tied to heroin abuse.

Indiana's syringe exchange programs will get "another year of certainty" after a bill extending them was sent to Gov. Eric Holcomb Thursday for his signature.

Indiana's syringe exchange programs are one step closer to staying open another year. The Indiana House passed a bill Tuesday that includes language to extend the programs.

Indiana House leaders say theyll try to extend by at least one year local syringe exchange programs that are set to expire in 2021. The programs are in danger of elimination after the Senate rejected an effort to extend them indefinitely.

The county's program provides clean syringes in exchange for used ones to reduce needle-sharing that can lead to the spread of disease.

The county's needle exchange aims to prevent the spread of diseases such as hepatitis C and HIV through the sharing of infected needles.