18th July, 2019
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has said that HIV prevalence among people in prisons is higher than general population.
Mr Oliver Stolpe, UNODC Representative, Nigeria said this in his address on the dissemination meeting by UNODC to commemorate Nelson Mandela’s Day in Abuja on Thursday.
Nelson Mandela Day is a day to commemorate the rules of Mandela that stipulates that prisoners should enjoy the same standards for health care that are available in the community.
It further specifies that healthcare services should be organised in close relationship to general public health administration for continuity of treatment and care including HIV, tuberculosis and infections diseases.
Stolpe said that the record was from a study conducted earlier in 2019 by UNODC in partnership with National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA), Nigerian Prisons and Heartland Alliance.
“The study concluded that HIV prevalence among people in prisons was 2.8 per cent which is double rate within the general population of 1.4 per cent,” he said.
The UNODC official explained that the study also identified a range of factors which significantly increased the risk of transmission of HIV among prisoners.
He however, said that the dissemination was in commemoration of Nelson Mandela’s Day being July 18 of every year which stipulated rights of prisoners to adequate health care.
Stolpe noted that “Rule 24 of United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for Treatment of prisoners otherwise known as Nelson Mandela Rules sees health care for prisoners as “State responsibility.”
According to him, unreliable HIV testing at admission, insufficient access to retroviral treatment, high risk sexual behavior are responsible for the prevalence.
Stolpe who lauded the progress so far made in reducing national HIV prevalence, identified injection of drugs by inmates as a major cause of prevalence.
He said that reducing HIV/AIDS prevalence among prisoners was not only an issue of compliance with international standards but also essential to contain the epidemic among general population.
Also speaking, Dr Erasmus Morah, Country Director, United Nations Agency on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) said keeping communities at the centre of HIV response, especially the most vulnerable and marginalized such as people in prisons was surest way for Nigeria to end the AIDS epidemic.
Moran who underscored the importance of the study by UNODC, said that key population and their partners account for 54 per cent of new HIV infections globally.
Dr Gambo Aliyu, Director General, National Agency for Control of AIDS (NACA) promised to continue to fight the spread of HIV/AIDS in Nigeria including among the key population which includes prisons and IDPS.
The Controller General of Nigerian Prisons, Mr Ja’afaru Ahmed thanked UNODC and its partners for showing care for inmates.
The Controller, who was represented by Husaina Kore, Deputy Controller of Prisons, said that a data for HIV prevalence in prisons was last conducted in the year 2000, thanking UNODC for conducting a fresh study.