USAID to begin HIV preventive intervention in prisons

By FAVOUR ALILU, agency report

U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has said it will begin a preventive intervention programme on HIV prevalence in Nigerian prisons by September this year.

Dr Abiye Kalaiwo, USAID Programme Manager, disclosed this to News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Abuja.
He said USAID had prisons in Bauchi, Niger, Adamawa and Bayelsa are its targets.

Kalaiwo noted that the intervention was in line with the war to reduce the spread of HIV infection in the country, especially among key population.

He added that “we have already commenced the preventive intervention programme in Lagos, Akwa Ibom and Cross River among prison inmates.”

The USAID official identified anal sex, drug injection and inadequate information as major reasons for HIV prevalence among prison inmates.

He explained that the agency would carry out thorough sensitisation of inmates on ways of preventing infection, which he said was abstinence and use of condom.

According to him, prison inmates should be made to understand the risks of anal sex and unprotected sex to curtail the spread of HIV/AIDS.

NAN reports that study by UN Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC) reveals that gays, displaced persons and prison inmates are responsible for new HIV infections globally.
Credit: NAN