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|PARLIAMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA |
|NATIONAL ASSEMBLY |
FOR WRITTEN REPLY
QUESTION NO: 283
Mr DV Bloem (COPE-FS) to ask Minister of Correctional Services;
a) What are her departmentâs guidelines for the prevention and treatment
of HIV/ AIDS in respect of (i) arrested, (ii) detailed and sentenced
persons,
b) what systems has her department put in place to ensure that good
prison health is good public health and
c) what measures are in place to ensure that prisoners without effective
TB and HIV/ AIDS programmes in detention facilities do not risk
transmitting these diseases to persons in their communities on
release?
CW347E
REPLY
(a)(i), (ii) and (iii)
The following policies, guidelines and standards for the prevention and
treatment of HIV and AIDS are in place for all inmates who are in the care
of Correctional Services Department.
⢠HIV and AIDS policy and procedure which promotes the observance of
human rights in the implementation of HIV and AIDS programmes and
services, adhering to the principles of confidentiality, respect,
sensitivity, non-discrimination and non-stigmatisation.
⢠Minimum Service Level Standards for HIV and AIDS programmes which
prescribes that inmates must be exposed to information and education
sessions about HIV and AIDS. To have access to condoms including
voluntary counselling and testing of inmates at all service points.
⢠Post Exposure Prophylaxis guidelines which prescribe the procedure to
be followed in the event of exposure to any potentially HIV infected
bodily fluid.
⢠The guidelines of the National Department of Health are followed and
respected in respect of treatment
b) The department is striving to ensure that inmates are provided with
the same quality and standard of health care to that provided to the
community at large. All Correctional Services policies and procedures
for the management of health care related conditions are based on the
prescripts of the National Department of Health. These prescripts are
followed in the disease prevention and health promotion activities,
diagnosis, treatment, management, rehabilitation and referral of sick
inmates. The department ensures that treatment which started outside
is continued after incarceration and facilities continuation of
treatment on discharge of an offender. Partnership has been
established with the Department of Health at the different levels in
order to ensure guidance and support to the health care professionals
in the Department of Correctional Services. Civil Society
organisations are involved in prevention activities for communicable
diseases (TB, HIV) and non-communicable diseases (hypertension,
diabetes amongst others) and activities such as HIV Counselling and
Testing (HCT), research to inform and guide policy development.
c) No impact study on the effectiveness of TB and HIV programmes have
been conducted yet in the Department of Correctional Services.
However, monitoring and evaluation is conducted in order to determine
compliance to legislation, policies and disease management guidelines.
Where compliance exists, corrective measures are put in place and
follow-up made to monitor progress
The following programmes/ services/ activities are implemented in
detention facilities to ensure that offenders do not risk transmitting
these diseases to persons in their communities on release:
- disease prevention and health promotion programmes and related
activities,
- early diagnosis and treatment of diseases
- Directly Observed Treatment Shortcourse (DOTS) by supervising those
who are on treatment to ensure compliance to treatment and that these
patients and cured
- disease surveillance and monitoring of trends in order to intervene
where applicable
- infection control measures as part of disease prevention and disease
management which includes isolation of patients with acute infections
until treatment has been administered
- prevention activities which include awareness raising on these
infections diseases, condom distribution, syndromic management of
sexually transmitted infections
- contact tracing for TB
- inmates are exposed to health education which capacitates them to know
the risk factors associated with certain diseases, symptom
recognition, importance of seeking attention on time and also how to
decrease the risk of potential spread to others
Inmates who require referral upon release are provided with referral
letters to external public health facilities for follow-up and further
management of their health condition(s).