22-01-2013, 04:31 PM
Prisoners affected with AIDS/HIV Vis-a-Vis their accessibility to health care
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INTRODUCTION
The right to health is an comprehensive right. We usually associate the right to health with access to health care and for the building of hospitals, but the right extends further and includes a wide range of factors like safe food, safe drinking water, healthy working environmental conditions etc can help to lead a healthy life. The right to health also contains entitlements like equality of opportunity for health care, access to essential medicines.etc. All these services, goods and facilities are to be made available, acceptable an d of good quality without discrimination.
HIV or Human Immuno deficiency Virus has emerged as a serious threat to the life of human beings in recent years. This HIV which had eventually lead to AIDS, both had posed a major challenge not only to modern medical field but is also a serious public challenge. The situation of HIV/AIDS in the prison is an issue which is often ignored and neglected. The levels of HIV infection among prison populations tend to be much higher than in the population outside prisons. Inside prisons, the primary risk behaviors for the transmission of HIV are the sharing of injecting equipment and unprotected sex. Within the prison environment, additional risk factors can include the sharing or the reuse of tattooing and body piercing equipment, the sharing of razors for shaving, and the improper sterilization or reuse of medical or dental instruments. Substandard conditions can also complicate or undermine the implementation of effective responses to HIV/AIDS by prison staff. Therefore, action to prevent the spread of HIV infection in prisons and to provide heath service to prisoners who are living with HIV/AIDS is integral to, and is to be enhanced by broader efforts to improve prison condition.
This paper looks into the accessibility of health care facilities to the prisoners who are contacted with AIDS/HIV.
The delivery of health services to prisoners is influenced by actions which are taken or not taken at a variety of decision-making levels ie, from individual prison staff to national governments and international assemblies. This framework therefore outlines guiding principles, recommendations for action, and implementation guidelines intended for the attention of all relevant stakeholders.
In different countries, the power to change prison legislation, policy, and programs rests with different authorities ; in some cases government, in others senior prison officials, and in others local prison management. In some countries, changing prison legislation, policy, and programs requires action by several levels of authority for implementing responses to HIV/AIDS in prisons. Every country’s response to HIV/AIDS in prisons is influenced by economic and social conditions, as well as by cultural, social, and religious traditions. However, these national and local conditions do not reduce or negate government obligation to meet recognized international prison, health, and human rights standards. International law is clear that a lack of resources does not excuse a State from its obligations to provide proper and humane prison conditions.
International human rights law and related norms
Under international norms, prisoners enjoy all human rights except those they are necessarily deprived of as a fact of incarceration. There are two general categories of instruments that protect human rights. Each poses different obligations on governments. International human rights law is binding on governments. International rules, standards, and guidelines are not law and therefore not binding on the government
International human rights laws
International human rights laws (for example, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights the International Covenant on Civil and Political Right s, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Right s, and the European Social Charter), while general in nature, are relevant to the rights of prisoners in the context of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. States that have ratified or acceded to these international laws are legally bound to respect, protect, and fulfill the right of prisoners to equality and non-discrimination, life, security of the person, the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, privacy, and an effective remedy for violations of human rights; and the right not be subjected to torture or to cruel, in human ,or degrading treatment or punishment.
International rules, standards, and guidelines
Specific rules, standards, and guidelines apply to the situation of prisoners, and impose both negative and positive obligations on states regarding prison conditions and the treatment of prisoners. The most important of these instruments are
i. Basic Principles for the Treatment of Prisoners
ii. Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment
iii. Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners
iv. Recommendation No R (98)7 of the Committee of Ministers to Member States Concerning the Ethical and Organizational Aspects of Health Care in Prison
Two additional instruments that are relevant to the situation of prisoners in the context of HIV/AIDS are the World Health Organization (WHO) Guidelines on HIV Infection and AIDS in Prisons (1993), and the International Guidelines on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights.
The WHO Guidelines “provide standards which from a public health perspective and the prison authorities should strive to achieve in their efforts to prevent HIV transmission in prisons and to provide care to those affected by HIV/AIDS.” The WHO Guidelines outline general principles and cover areas such a HIV testing; prevention measures; management of HIV-infected prisoners; confidentiality; care and support of HIV-infected prisoners; women prisoners; juvenile detention; semi liberty, release, and early release; community contacts; resources; and evaluation and research.