A total of 592 inmates in Namibian prisons are living with HIV out of a population of 4 561. The Namibian reports that this was revealed by Namibian Correctional Service commissioner Sam Shaalulange, who said that the prison service is training nurses at its facilities to ensure that inmates are tested for HIV and put on treatment immediately.
The training is also to ensure that those already on treatment continue taking their daily dose religiously.
He said through the ongoing training, all correctional facilities in the country will have improved access to HIV testing and anti-retroviral therapy (ART). The report says the training sessions are funded by the UN Programme on HIV-AIDS and supported by Namibia’s Health Ministry.
Shaalulange explained that the training of nurses comes as part of their health policy, which has a monitoring and review plan, and thereby guides the fraternity on what activities to work on. “The inmates will be able to be tested for HIV, treated, monitored and supported by the trained healthcare personnel inside the correctional facilities.
“Currently, the ARVs are readily available to all inmates in all correctional facilities, and they take them as any other normal client from the public health facilities. But in our case, these are given under direct observed therapy,” added Shaalulange.
[link url="https://www.namibian.com.na/85261/read/More-than-500-prisoners-living-with-HIV"]The Namibian report[/link]