File photo: Martina Holmberg/TT

Sweden's Public Health Agency wants to introduce a programme of needle exchanges across Sweden in order to reduce the infection rate of Hepatitis C among intravenous drug users.

In a new report, the agency says the programme would mean clean needles and syringes for users, but would also involve counselling, testing and vaccination.

"There is no point letting addicts catch a load of other diseases and think it will help them get out of their addiction. It's actually the other way around. It will lead to a downward spiral," the agency's general director, Johan Carlson, told news agency...