UNAIDS: The First 10 Years

Chapter 4their habit while in prison, often coercing others to follow. Furthermore, unsafesexual practices, use of unsterile injecting equipment or other crude substitutes,tattooing, violence (including rape) and exposure to blood, all increase prisoners’likelihood of exposure to HIV. 2 HIV prevalence among prisoners iis frequentlyseveral times higher than the corresponding national averages in many countries.99UNODC is assisting governments in the implementation of “legislation, policies,and programmes consistent with international human rights norms, and to ensurethat prisoners are provided a standard of health care equivalent to that available inthe outside community”. Antiretroviral treatment and drug substitution therapyare now available in some European prisons, but many countries have yet toimplement comprehensive HIV prevention programmes in prisons, or achieve astandard of prison health care equivalent to the standard outside of prison.Today, the UN system agencies have a strong working relationship around theseissues. Christian Kroll, Senior Coordinator of the HIV/AIDS unit at UNODC,recounts: “All our Cosponsors agree that there’s a very serious problem amonginjecting drug-users. This was not always the case before. Now they really supportall interventions – HIV/AIDS intervention among injecting drug-users andin prisons. I think that the entire climate in the UNAIDS family has changeddramatically so that we collaborate much better on all these issues”.2UNODC/UNAIDS/WHO (2007). HIV/AIDS prevention, care, treatment and support in prison settings – aframework for an effective national response. New York, United Nations. July.