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Happy birthday Mainline!
To celebrate their 20-year anniversary, harm reduction foundation
Mainline brought all of their staff over to the IHRA conference.
Mainline provides drug information and harm reduction advice to
users in Amsterdam.
‘WHEN WE SAY PRISONS WE REFER TO ALL TYPES OF
CLOSED SETTINGS
, including compulsory centres for drug use,’
Fabienne Hariga of UNODC’s HIV/AIDS section told the
Developing
harm reduction interventions in prisons
session.
Thirty million people were incarcerated each year, she said, with
people who use drugs accounting for up to 50 per cent of the prison
population in some parts of the world. ‘The legal framework needs to
be addressed. There’s an over use of prison, not just for drug users
but for sex workers and other vulnerable populations.’
Transmission of HIV in prison was not limited to drug use, she
stressed. ‘There’s sexual transmission, including sexual violence, and
unsafe medical services.’ There was also poor access to general
healthcare services, stigma and discrimination, poor prison
management and issues around gangs and corruption. ‘Prisons are
breeding grounds for HIV and TB epidemics – for the people living and
working there, their families and communities.’ Furthermore, HIV
prevalence among women in prison was almost always higher than
among men – three times higher in the US.
UNODC tried to provide a comprehensive package for HIV and
TB prevention, she said, based on scientific evidence, as well as
adopting an holistic approach to health in prisons. ‘Very few
countries have developed a real health in prisons programme. And
of course the comprehensive package of harm reduction should be
available in prison, including needle and syringe exchange, OST,
voluntary counseling and testing, access to condoms and anti-
retroviral therapy.’
Prisons need comprehensive
harm reduction package
6 –
Daily Update
– DAY FOUR – Thursday 7 April 2011
Working to bring
harm reduction to
prison populations
‘DRUG USE IS A COMPLEX ISSUE IN LEBANESE
PRISONS,’
Hana Nassif of the Justice and Mercy Association
(AJEM) told delegates in the
Developing harm reduction
interventions in prisons in Middle East and North Africa
session.
‘There is a lack of knowledge of risks and lack of care services,
but a huge number of people take drugs in prison.’
Her organisation worked in the severely-overcrowded Roumieh
prison in Beirut, which had made headlines this week. Many
parents lacked the capability to face up to their children’s drug use
problems and, without the means to pay for care, chose to report
them to the police instead (see Tuesday’s
Daily Update
, page 5).
AJEM’s mission was to improve the conditions and social
status of prisoners, she said. ‘Ninety per cent of inmates know
nothing about rehab or harm reduction, or else they have the
wrong ideas. There is no right to needle and syringe programmes
or condom distribution, but we use all available means to educate
prisoners, including motiva -
tional interviews, counselling,
and working closely with
lawyers.’ A UNODC-funded
initiative had also facilitated a
unified infectious disease
programme in all of Lebanon’s
prisons, and AJEM was also
working on post-release care.
HIV prevalence among
prisoners in Morocco, mean-
while, was around 0.8 per
cent, Dr Fatima Assouab of
the Moroccan Ministry of
Health told delegates. The
ministry had conducted a study of prisons in the north of the
country – where heroin was widely used – in association with
UNAIDS and UNODC, and found that 45 per cent of those
arrested had been arrested for drug use, with many continuing
to inject when in jail.
A harm reduction programme had now been launched in
Tangier, Nador and Tétouan, while a plan for HIV control and
prevention had been initiated as part of an overall AIDS strategy.
New prison policy legislation was now being implemented, she
said, although a needle exchange programme was still to be
discussed. Ten centres had been created for preventative and
psychological care for prisoners living with HIV, as well as
training for the judiciary in harm reduction and HIV prevention.
‘The next steps are extending methadone maintenance
therapy in all prison settings in 2012,’ she told delegates, ‘along
with implementing needle and syringe exchange in prisons and a
monitoring and evaluation framework.’
Dr Fatima Assouab:
‘45 per
cent arrested for drug use.’