The Uganda Prisons Service (UPS) has been recognised as the leader in the suppression of HIV by the health ministry and the Uganda AIDS Commission (UAC).

UAC director general Dr Nelson Musoba says they are happy with the HIV response mechanisms within prisons. He attributed this to the country’s effort towards fighting HIV in prisons. 

“The country has enabled the prisons authorities to efficiently identify those in need of HIV prevention, treatment, and care services,” Musoba said while addressing the media in Kampala on Monday. 

According to Musoba, the latest statistics from the health ministry show that all prisoners know their HIV status.

“Knowing one’s HIV status is the entry point to any effective HIV prevention, care, and treatment services,” he said

Musoba added that all new prisoners must undertake an HIV test and those found to be HIV-negative are encouraged to remain so, while those found to be HIV-positive are initiated on anti-retroviral treatment (ART).

“From the statistics, 98% of all those who are HIV positive in Prison have managed to be enrolled in effective HIV treatment and 94% of those on HIV treatment have been successful in suppressing the HIV within their bodies,” he explained.

Viral suppression is the key indicator for treatment success in People living with HIV (PLHIV).

Musoba revealed that the Uganda AIDS Commission is pleased with the HIV response within prisons that enabled those who need HIV treatment to be able to access it promptly.

He noted that suppression of HIV within one’s body is very critical to HIV prevention efforts as a country.

“Evidence confirms that those who are suppressing the Virus in their bodies with the help of ART are not able to pass on the virus to someone else,” he said.

Prisoners are ignorant about HIV and its transmission

However, the recent HIV committee of Parliament about the HIV situation in selected prisons shows there are low knowledge levels about HIV and its transmission among the prisoners.

“These could be explained by the sections within our communities that majority of these prisoners emerge from and these mainly are high illiteracy levels, with limited access to public health awareness campaigns and services,” Musoba said adding: “As the Uganda AIDS Commission, we will work with all partners to identify creative communication and service delivery approaches to ensure all sections of the community regardless of the social status access knowledge and services for effective prevention, care and treatment of HIV and AIDS”.

The health ministry, together with other development and implementing partners is implementing a comprehensive prevention and treatment programme targeting all high-risk categories, including those in prisons. 

“At the policy level, we take persons in prison settings to be a high-priority population for our HIV prevention, treatment, and care interventions. They are part of what we call the high-risk category. This category includes people who inject drugs, fishing communities, long-distance truck drivers, widows, widowers, adolescent girls, and young women,” he said.

UPS spokesperson Frank Baine said the HIV prevalence among inmates is higher than the national average.

“Inmates use sharp objects like razorblades to clean their bodies and share them without thinking they could get infected with HIV through them,” Baine said.

A previous study conducted across Uganda Prisons by the health ministry and UPS, together with their development partners, showed a high prevalence of HIV among female (24%) and male (14%) prisoners and prison staff (12%). 

“These percentages are considerably high when compared with the average national HIV prevalence of 5.5%”

According to UPS authorities, Uganda has about 76,000 prisoners in different prisons throughout the country.