Prisoners battle to get antiretrovirals
August 29, 2005
Jillian Green
Johannesburg: For many HIV-positive prisoners, having access to antiretroviral therapy while in jail is nothing but a pipe-dream.
This is the view of two paroled HIV-positive prisoners who took the Departments of Correctional Services and Health to court last year in order to ensure that they had access to the life-prolonging drugs.
Figures indicating the number of inmates needing ARVs are non-existent but it has been estimated that by 2010, 45 000 prisoners a year would die of Aids-related illnesses.
Also, none of the prisons in South Africa have been accredited to supply ARVs to infected prisoners who need them. Instead those needing treatment have to be taken to a public health facility for drugs.
