HIV prevention and health promotion in prisons
‘Good prison health is good public health’ is a principle that guides AFEW’s prison programming throughout the vast penal systems across the region.
AFEW works together with ministries of justice, prison health experts, prison administrations, medical and non-medical staff, inmates and local non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to build local capacity and ensure that people living within prison facilities have the same access to information and quality services as those living outside prison walls.
AFEW’s activities related to improving responses to HIV in the prison system span the continuum of prevention, treatment, care, and support. Our efforts range from curricula development involving high-level working groups (AFEW is a permanant member and representative of the Steering Committee for the WHO Health in Prisons Project - HIPP) and professional education, peer counselling, and education among inmates. We also conduct distribution of informational and prevention materials, and the introduction of discharge planning and transitional client management as a means to ensure that individuals are linked to appropriate services once they are released and back in the community.
