•Prisoners should not be stigmatised regardless of their HIVstatus.

By SYLVIA MWEETWA –
KANAYAKA, Kali-muliverse (discriminatory words) is one of the phrases used referring to a person living with the HIV virus.
On the other hand stigma attached to those living positively in Zambian  prisons have not been  spared but the prisons command was not sitting idle in trying to provide  education to  inmates.
It is for this reason that the Zambia Prisons command has  decided  to  address the issues surrounding stigma with its theme “Zambia at 50 towards zero stigma  in prison”.
In the 1990s when HIV/AIDS when was ravaging communities, prison officers and inmates were not spared.
However, it is gratifying to note that Zambian prisons have benefited from many health programmes currently being implemented within and outside prison  communities.
Through its  open door policy, the service  has attracted  funding from both government and Non Governmental  Organisations (NGOs) which has necessitated the implementation of various programmes that are running within the prison communities and has  recorded  some positive results.
And a study conducted in 1999 by In But Free, HIV and Aids prevalence  rate in prisons was  at  27 per cent but  currently with the interventions that have been  put as a result of the  recommendations by its  partners statics  indicate that it has reduced to 23 per cent according to the data it  gathered  from the  4014 inmates  as  of  October 2014.
Commissioner  of Prisons Percy Chato said the Voluntary  Counselling and Testing (VCT) currently stands at 95 per cent for the inmates and 71 per cent  if the  infected  prisoners  who are on ART  while  21 per cent were being considered for ART.
Mr Chato attributed  the  reduction to the  preventive programmes such as sensitisation with an emphasis on both officers and inmates knowing  their status  and  responding positively to treatment.
“Our goal as Zambia prisons services is to seee to it that by the year 2015 prisons will have reached a level where  we can test and treat some of the diseases. But sadly we  still face a  number of challenges,  among them congestion which has continued to haunt us for communicable diseases such as tuberculosis,  as well as inadequate for man power,” he said.
The  prisons chief said lack of diagnostic equipments effectively combat the HIV virus and  that  there were few ART centrers to  within the prison settings which has compelled   them  to  continue  depending  on other partners for support among other  challenges.
He however, said despite the challenges the prisons has  continued to enjoy the  good political will from the government and other stakeholders  and paid  tribute to the  Center  for  Infectious Disease Research in Zambia (CIDRZ) who has  come  on board  to  find a way of strengthening  health systems in the Zambian prisons through its  project  Zambia Prisons Health Strengthening system (ZPHSS).
He said this would involve  forming  of prisons health committees to monitor health situations at every  prisons and committees  were  currently  undergoing training to capacitate them.
“I want to categorically  stress  that prisons services could not have single  handily managed  to reduce  incidences of  HIV/AIDS  related  diseases  in prisons. Again  without the helping  hand of our partners and stakeholders, the  Zambian prison could  have  continued  to record  escalating  numbers  of deaths  due  to  the ever increasing threat  of the  diseases in this day and age,” he said.
He said  his command  was committed  to  ensuring stigma among inmates is fought  from  all angles through its sensitisation programme put in place  and that he was  confident it would bear fruit.
And Central province Permanent Secretary Edwidge  Mutale  has  hailed  the Zambia  prisons programmes  put in  place  to  fight  the  deadly  disease which has  continued to claim lives not  only  in prisons but the country as a whole.
Ms Mutale said the government  continues  to attaché  great  importance  to  ensuring that measures are put in place to fighting the  disease and appealed to other stakeholders  to continue  partnering with the  government in finding a  lasting solution.
She  said it was gratifying that the  prisons  service were  working hard  in ensuring that  prisoners are  sensitised over the  dangers  of the disease  while at the same  time  providing  ART services those  who were  positively.
“I  am  happy  that the prisons have  put in place  several  measures in seeing to it that  prisoners despite them been incarcerated  are  sensitised  and are  also provided  with ART  services and urged  them to continue with such good  works,” she said.
She  said  there  was  need to  continue  to  educate the  public over the stigma attached to those living positively and that it would be the only way many people would  come  out  and declare their status.
But  some  prisoners  talked  to  living positively explained that it was difficult to be accepted among cell mates after  learning that there  were  HIV positive.
Mr  Andrew Mulenga not the real name recalled how he was often  times isolated  and lost hope of living  because  he did not see  the  value of staying alive.
Mr Mulenga  said  he has since  accepted  his status  after  undergoing  several conselling  sessions introduced  by the  prisons command and commended  them for their action.
“I almost  died  in prison as  a result of stigma because  at the time I knew that I  was  Hiv  positive and  most  people  did not  want  to even shake my  hands and talk  to  me but due to the congestion when  it was  time to sleep inmates had  no  choice but  to mix with him due to lack of sleeping space,” he said.
Another prisoner narrated that stigma  in prison was responsible of premature  death of some inmates  because  most of the felt  not accepted but was happy  with prison stance  to  educate the inmates  over HIV/AIDS.
Mwape Mwape said he has  lived  with  the virus for  over  20  years  and that  despite  the  stigma attached  to  it  he has  learned  to  share with  his fellow inmates  over the  diseases and  that  he was  a living testimony that  one  can still live  many  years provided their accept  and  live positively.
It is clear  that  stigma is a war  which  need to be fought  by all  and measures taken by the  prison  authority to  stop the acts should be  supported  by  all.
The  kanayaka, kalimuverse  phrases  should be stopped  if the war of  HIV is  to be won and allow  many people to get tested.