Andante Okanya and Abou Kisige
1 October 2009
Kampala — The HIV prevalence in Uganda prisons stands at 11% in male and 13% in female inmates, almost double the national average of about 6.4 %.
The figures based on the 2008 joint rapid assessment report by the Uganda Prisons Service and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, were released by Prisons chief Dr. Johnson Byabashaija.
This was during a meeting at the Imperial Royale Hotel in Kampala on Wednesday. Byabashaija noted that more health funding is needed to fight HIV and TB in prisons across the country.
He disclosed that the Prisons Health Service receives sh820m annually to cater for about 32,000 inmates and 8,000 staff. "Studies have shown that prisons can be incubators of diseases," Byabashaija noted. He added that inadequate funding was undermining efforts to build a viable unit to deal with the high rates of the diseases.
Byabashaija noted that although Uganda has made significant progress in building a viable Prisons Health Service, the coverage is still low. He said only 44 out of the 222 prison units are functional. He asked the health ministry to provide technical support.
Byabashaija recommended the classification prisons as 'hard-to-reach areas', to enable health workers under the Prisons Health Service to get preferential remuneration. In 1989, the health ministry diverted the management of health services in prisons to the internal affairs ministry, under which the Uganda Prisons Service falls.
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