Prevention of HIV-Infection in Prisons

Abstract

There is a growing body of literature in the field of intravenous drug use and HIV/AIDS, but nevertheless it is still a matter of debate whether the prisons accelerate or decrease the spread of HIV and AIDS. Prison populations are rising, and in many countries between a quarter and a half of prisoners have injected drugs before imprisonment (1) and many of those continue drug use while inside prison (2). Although several studies in the European region confirmed significant correlation between a history of imprisonment and positive serostatus among i.v. drug users (IVDU)(3, 4), it is still a matter of debate whether the risk of HIV transmission for IVDU is higher inside or outside prison. There is concern, however, that prisons are settings where IVDU still put themselves at high risk for HIV-in-fection by being forced to practise risky injecting behaviour. In prisons, injection equipment is in very short supply and commonly used by different drug users.