Establishment of an HIV/sexually transmitted disease programme and prevalence of infection among incarcerated men in Jamaica

Abstract

The goal of this study is to describe the establishment of an HIV testing and treatment programme in the Jamaican correctional system and to estimate the prevalence of HIV/sexually transmitted disease (STD) among adult incarcerated men in this country. A demonstration project was implemented by the Jamaican Department of Correctional Services and Ministry of Health in the nation’s largest correctional centre. All inmates were offered HIV and syphilis testing, and a subset was offered chlamydia, gonorrhoea and trichomoniasis testing. Cross-sectional data from the project were reviewed to determine the prevalence and correlates of HIV/STD. HIV test acceptance was 63% for voluntary testers (n = 1200). The prevalence of HIV was 3.3% (95% confidence interval [CI] 2.33–4.64) (n = 1017) and the prevalence syphilis was 0.7% (95% CI 0.29–1.49) (n = 967). Among the subset tested (n = 396) the prevalence of chlamydia was 2.5% (95% CI 1.22–4.49) and for trichomoniasis it was 1.8% (95% CI 0.01–3.60), but no cases of gonorrhoea were detected (n = 396). The prevalence of HIV was significantly higher at 25% (95% CI 13.64–39.60) for persons located in a separate section where individuals labelled as men who have sex with men (MSM) are separated. HIV/STD testing is important and feasible in Jamaica. A special focus should be placed on providing services to inmates labelled as MSM. Other Caribbean nations may also benefit from similar programmes.

HIV coping self-efficacy: a key to understanding stigma and HIV test acceptance among incarcerated men in Jamaica

“…A total of 2,057 inmates were incarcerated in this institution during the demonstration project period and 1,560 participated in the program. Of these, 1,017 tested for HIV and 24 or 3.3% were found to be HIV-infected (see Andrinopoulos et al 2009 for details of the testing program). This is twice the prevalence rate estimated for the general population (MOH 2006).…”

Seroprevalence of HIV/AIDS and HIV risk factors among prison inmates in Ogun State, Nigeria

“…There have also been occasions when infected inmates having served their terms, were released into the general population [2]; a precursor to HIV epidemic in a generalised HIV setting. Also, due to the confined nature of the Prison community, Inmates engage in risky behaviours ranging from unprotected sex to same sex [3,4] which could increase the rate of HIV transmission among them.…”

“…In fact, studies have shown that populations of inmates are vulnerable to HIV, and globally tend to have significantly higher HIV prevalence rate than non-inmate populations [4][5][6][7]. Nevertheless, HIV prevention programmes and data characterizing the epidemic in this group are largely lacking particularly in the developing countries [2,8]. In Ogun state, Nigeria, a literature search yielded no result for HIV related studies conducted specifically among inmates.…”

“…Consequently, the present study provide not only data for future policy decisions making but also, to bridge the gap in knowledge as well as an avenue to significantly impact on the health of the inmates by offering HIV testing, counselling and referrals for treatments of infected inmates. This will in turn prevent further spread of the disease among inmates and in the communities when inmates are released eventually [2].…”

“…Apart from selected studies conducted among inmates in other parts of the world [2,5,6,[8][9][10][11][12], in a study among prisoners at the Kiri-Kiri prisons in Lagos, Odujirin and Adebayo [4] found that more than half of those interviewed claimed to use condom during casual sex while some claimed never to have been involved in sex before. The researchers also reported a considerable proportion of naïve inmates who were at risk of being infected due to their high level of ignorance about HIV/AIDS [4].…”