New study points to need for better HIV education among inmates

Source: CBC News
Published: Monday, July 30, 2007 | 5:29 PM ET
Canadian Press: KRISTINE OWRAM

TORONTO (CP) - Offenders who are admitted to Ontario remand facilities are 11 times more likely to be infected with HIV and 22 times more likely to be infected with hepatitis C than members of the general population - numbers that point to the need for better education and preventive measures among inmates, a new study suggests.

The study, published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, indicates injection drug use is by far the most important risk factor in the transmission of HIV and hepatitis C among inmates of Ontario's remand facilities.

"This shows the importance of education, because in some cases, there were people who knew they were infected and still were engaging in behaviours that would transmit the infection," said Liviana Calzavara, one of the authors of the study. Calzavara, who is deputy director of the HIV Social, Behavioural and Epidemiological Studies Unit at the University of Toronto's department of public health sciences, added that one-third of the inmates who tested positive for hepatitis C weren't aware they were infected. "This study draws attention to issues around education for individuals in terms of how to avoid it, how to avoid transmitting it to others and treatment that is available that would limit the health effects," she said.

This is particularly important because inmates tend to spend relatively short periods of time in remand centres - an average of 32 days - before moving on to somewhere else, said Calzavara. The study found that 56,000 adult and young offenders are admitted to remand facilities in Ontario each year, where they await the outcome of legal proceedings, serve sentences under 60 days, or await transfer to provincial or federal jails. This means there are significant opportunities for transmission of diseases to other populations through high-risk behaviours such as injection drug use or unsafe sex, said Calzavara.

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The study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal is available HERE.