by Alain Agboton, Senegal, February 1998
THEME = AIDS
Already "isolated from the
isolated", prisoners suffering from AIDS
undergo a threefold exclusion because of the
widespread epidemic
which is worse in Africa than elsewhere.
A prisoner besides being marginalised, lives in sub-human
conditions
An international conference, organised by International Prisons Observers and UNO/AIDS and held in Dakar from 16-18 February, examined the lot of African Aids sufferers in prison. The rate of incidence of AIDS in these "death cells" is much higher than among the general population, because of the living conditions and promiscuity among prisoners.
Nearly 200 researchers, experts on public health and medicine, prison administrators and representatives of NGOs from about 30 countries, attended. As a preparation for this event, an international scientific committee, composed of local and foreign leaders, met on 7 and 8 January this year, to identify and define the themes of the conference.
The organisers stress that though there are various campaigns on AIDS aimed at all other sections of society, prison populations have been excluded. Information and studies of AIDS in African prisons, though rare and fragmentary, still confirm that African prisons are major sources of infection.
Another element of this problem, is the difficulty of communication by public health officials with places of detention which are is a deplorable state. The inmates - a group at risk if ever there was one, because of drug addiction in prisons and the absence of "private meetings" with spouses and the lack of condoms - are not looked after by public hospital services. As a general rule, hospitals and medical personnel steer clear of prisons.
The themes of the conference centred round the ethical, socio- cultural, religious aspects, on the medical, counselling, and befriending of HIV-infected people, legal aspects of prison policy on HIV/AIDS and information/education/ communication in conjunction with prevention measures.
This Dakar conference should help to heighten awareness of the problem of AIDS in prisons among all interested and involved parties: prison staff, public health officials, and those organising anti-AIDS programs for prisoners. Another aim of the conference was to involve those in authority, in getting to grips with the problem and the necessity of implementing the directives of the World Health Organisation on AIDS among prisoners.
Finally the conference wishes to provoke national programs in the fight against AIDS, into taking responsibility in a systematic and effective way for inmates of prisons, and to encourage more research on AIDS in African prisons.
In fact, WHO has issued directives, whose general principles affirm that all prisoners have the right to receive care (including preventative measures) similar to that available to the community at large. It also recommends that each country should have specific policies for the prevention of HIV/AIDS in prisons and for the care of infected prisoners. It also stipulates that due heed should be given to the needs of prisoners, when planning national programs in the fight against AIDS. And finally, that NGOs should actively participate in the whole process, together with staff and prison officers.
To sum up: after defining the general situation of HIV in African prisons, the Dakar conference should provide a springboard for action, for a coherent health policy in this matter, and for the study of the means to facilitate co-operation between health bodies and African prison authorities.
END
PeaceLink 1998 - Reproduction authorised, with usual acknowledgement