Charles Quamina sat in the spotlight on a dark stage with his long, blown-out locks falling over his shoulders and told the story of how he believes he contracted 

One day in 1997, a man woke up in the ER after experiencing a heroin overdose. He was scared and homeless, unsure of how to access services to manage his addiction. Soon after this experience, the man encountered “the nicest people in the world” at a Baltimore City Health Department Needle Exchange Van. The peer recovery staff built a relationship with this man based on shared experiences and successfully encouraged him to go into—and stick with—a treatment program that worked for him.

BALTIMORE, MD (May 19, 2016)–Today Baltimore City Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen issued the following statement following this week’s votes by Congress to approve funding to combat the Zika Virus: