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PRIs work to improve womens health in Kazakhstans prisons
– Reported, May 22 2014
Throughout the past ten years, womens imprisonment has become one of the leading domestic issues in Kazakhstan. The number of female prisoners now incarcerated is four times higher than in 1990. However, Kazakhstans penal system is far from sufficient to adapt to, and accommodate, this growing trend. For example, there are only four womens prisons in the entire nation, with one of them having been completed just last year. These institutions are scattered about vast distances and are characterised by different levels of security. One of the basic problems arising from the limited number of facilities and differing regimes of security is that women are often incarcerated far from home, being forced to sever ties with their family and lose the most basic system of support a person can have. In Kazakhstan, this translates into a higher rate of discrimination in prison, as well as increased suffering from diseases that may have been treated with familial assistance.
Tangentially, the situation of HIV/AIDS and TB in Kazakhstans prisons is both widespread and systemic. While there were 12,807 recorded cases of HIV in the general population of Kazakhstan during 2009, there were 2,370 instances of prisoners living with HIV during the same time period.
Overall Objective
To improve the situation of prevention, diagnostics and rehabilitation for patients with HIV/AIDS and TB in womens prisons
Specific Objectives
1. To enhance the system of prevention of HIV/AIDS and TB among women in prisons and prison staff;
2. To improve the detection, cure and care of HIV/AIDS and TB among women in prisons;
3. To develop the capacities of public authorities working in the sphere of HIV/AIDS and TB in the penal system of Kazakhstan
Activities Included
1. Training on HIV/AIDS and TB detection, transmission and cure for women prisoners and prison staff in
pilot regions;
2. Study of HIV/AIDS and TB in womens prisons;
3. Legislative analysis in the sphere of medical services for women prisoners;
4. Discussions on a national level for recommendations to enhance the system of HIV/AIDS and TB
prevention among women prisoners.
5. Patients’ schools for women prisoners in pilot regions;
6. Expert advice, guidance, and support for the transition of prison medical services from the Ministry of Justice to the Ministry of Health;
7. Coordination of meetings for public authorities in pilot regions;
8. Training for social workers for probation services in pilot regions;
9. National conferences on capacity-building for public authorities.