Event: Health and HIV in prisons: Effective strategies to address urgent needs

Side event at the 66th Session of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND). Organised by Penal Reform International, supported by Belgium, Brazil, Czechia, Mexico, Sweden, UNODC HIV/AIDS Section and the International Drug Policy Consortium. This was a hybrid event held in Vienna and online on 17 March 2023.

Prison populations globally present complex healthcare needs including an increased likelihood of infection with Hepatitis, HIV/AIDS and other diseases. People in prison are six times more likely to be living with HIV than the general population while the disproportionate burden of HIV and hepatitis C in prisons remains linked to insufficient access to comprehensive harm reduction services in prisons, among other factors.

At this event, civil society partners from the Informal CSO Group on Health in Prison shared their strategies, successes and challenges for improved health and harm reduction services in prisons in the Philippines, South Africa, and Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

Programme

Opening remarks: Olivia Rope, Executive Director, Penal Reform International

Speakers: 

• Aire Kamiyama, IDUCARE, Philippines
• Thembi Zungu, South Africa Partners
• Anna Koshikova, Eurasian Movement for the Right to Health in Prison

Closing remarks: Fariba Soltani, Chief, HIV/AIDS Section & Global Coordinator for HIV/AIDS, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

Moderator: Ehab Salah, Advisor on Prisons and HIV, HIV/AIDS Section, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime