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HIV/AIDS prevalence in prison steady: Survey

A survey conducted at Denpasar's Kerobokan Penitentiary, the island's largest prison, between late 2008 and early 2009 found 14 of 200 inmates tested positive for HIV/AIDS

Luh De Suriyani (The Jakarta Post)
Denpasar
Mon, March 23, 2009

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HIV/AIDS prevalence in prison steady: Survey

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survey conducted at Denpasar's Kerobokan Penitentiary, the island's largest prison, between late 2008 and early 2009 found 14 of 200 inmates tested positive for HIV/AIDS.

The survey gathered data through an unlinked anonymous method.

Meanwhile, a separate test carried out during the same period through the prison's voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) program found that out of 96 inmates taking part in the program, 10 tested positive for the virus.

The figures suggest the prison's HIV/AIDS prevalence rate has remained steady in the last three years.

In 2007, 12 inmates tested positive, and in 2008 the figure was 14.

The prevalence rates in the last three years are significantly lower than in 2002, when 40 inmates tested positive for HIV/AIDS.

In 2004, prison authorities formed an HIV/AIDS mitigation task force to carry out the first ever intervention and treatment programs targeting inmates.

It is believed the program played a crucial role in decreasing HIV prevalence rates.

The program is built around the harm reduction principles, which educate inmates on the dangers of several factors associated with injecting drug, needle and syringe sharing in particular.

Needle and syringe sharing significantly increases the probability of a drug user getting infected with the deadly disease.

The practice has also been identified as the primary cause behind the explosion of HIV/AIDS case among injecting drug user (IDU) communities across the globe.

"The program being implemented here has made them aware that needle and syringe sharing is a very risky practice because it makes them vulnerable to HIV/AIDS infection," said task force head A.A. Gde Hartawan.

A large number of inmates, serving time in Kerobokan for drugs offences, are also IDUs.

The task force also runs a clinic that provides IDU inmates with methadone maintenance therapy (MMT), which helps wean inmates from injecting drugs by providing them with a regular supply of orally taken methadone.

It is one of a handful of pilot MMT clinics in the country.

Yanuar, an inmate, lauded the program's effectiveness in reducing the HIV/AIDS prevalence rate among inmates.

"The program is being carried out openly at the prison's clinic and it plays an important role in increasing our awareness and knowledge of the disease," he said.

"My fellow drug addicts here are now quite familiar with HIV/AIDS prevention measures."

Hartawan pointed out the recent surveys also revealed an interesting trend: the number of inmates with HIV/AIDS from the IDU group had decreased, while the number from the group contracting the virus through sexual contact was on the rise.

"Nearly half of the 14 inmates contracted the disease through sexual intercourse," Hartawan said.

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