Zambia Prisons Services Commissioner, Gibbie Nawa, says more than 10 million people in prisons across the world have been seriously affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
Mr. Nawa said most countries in the sub-Saharan region have a higher HIV prevalence rate among their prison populations than the general population of the same countries.
He said a decade ago, the Zambia Prison Service carried out an HIV prevalence survey which showed that the prevalence rate of the pandemic in prisons varied from that of the outside population.
He was speaking at the official opening of a three-day training workshop held for prison service officers-in-charge on HIV/AIDS in Kabwe yesterday.
The training workshop is aimed at providing prisons leadership with information on how to reduce stigma and discrimination in order to help both prisoners and officers accept their status.
Mr. Nawa also noted that Zambian prisons officers are at high risk of contracting and spreading HIV due to the nature of their work.
ZANIS/AH/KSH/ENDS
These statistics are scary!
Mr Nawa how do the prison officers risk contracting the HIV virus? Enlighten me sir,is it tht the officers do fimofimo
#2 exactly my sentiments. How can the prison officers be at risk unless they are engaging in risky behaviour.
They are prone to exposure. Saliva, PooPo, body fluids. They are not provided with protective gear. Still in the dark? My God!
This is not news to me…im not a convict but a frustrated zambian. Mr Nawa how many prisons have been built in the past 20 years? This issue is got a lot to do with the congestion in our prisons, mind you zambians are still producing babies, if you re a sleepy person or a chikopo (an empty tin) what im saying is that our population is still growing. How can 1 prison warder look after 20 odd prisoners.Let me not even start with the prison cells, because people like Mr Nawa are jokers and time wasters. Now how will those prisons look like in another ten years. Stop having useless workshop wasting our tax payers money. Wake up talk real issue that we can benefit in the future.
#4 Destroyer. You are in the dark! You need to revisit how HIV is transmitted. If an HIV person spits on you, you will not contract the disease. Poop can transmit other diseases but not HIV. Semen, vigina fluids through sexual intercourse will transmit the disease. Infected blood through transfusion or through a cut in the skin will also transmit the disease. Talking to or touching HIV positive Prisoners will not infect the prisoners. Prisoners infect each other because they freely engage in sexual activities because the prisons are not secure enough or large enough to ensure proper supervision.
Congestion, colonial design of many of our prisons and denial of the exitence of homosexuality all facilitate transmission among other factors …..As for the issue of Prison offices it is rather strange. I will assume contracting air borne opportunistic infections like PTB …..
Mr Nawa you’re so backwards. Listen brother, as much as we understand that Zambian prisons are lacking in protective clothing but that does’nt mean they will contract HIV.
Actually the issue was not about prisoners in Zambia alone, its about global prisons.
they need to stop having un protected sex. Anal
This situation gives an insight on the conduct of prison officers. They are at risk because of enganging in homosexual acts with the prisoners. Now how do we fix it?..The health department should come up with videos to show around the country in order to raise awareness on sexually transmitted diseases, most people don’t take heed unless they see-they want proof/evidence. There should be no reservation on how the material is presented. “You have unprotected sex this is the consequence, HIV, HPV (for those that enjoy oral sex..Yes you can have an std in your mouth too), Herpes, etc.” The biggest problem is that we as Zambians have a tendancy to hide behide culture. information is no delivered as it should be because of some fake taboo someone came up with. Zambia-Wake up! Smell the…
People please!!! Yes there is homosexuality practiced in prison and is the major cause of the spread of the virus among male prisoners. As for the prisons officers, the nature of their job puts them at risk because they do have sex with female convicts and the wives of officers are mostly promiscuous. Anyway the wives part is just an assertion. The problem is not information on stigma and discrimination but congestion and overcrowding in Zambian prisons, especially those in Lusaka, Kabwe and the copperbelt.
We need to conquer the pandemic
damn
SYzqRw