Surprising Ways to Stop HIV
With a disproportionate number of prisoners infected with HIV and hepatitis C, our nation’s prisons are poised to become the next front line in the battle against infectious diseases. Here’s why prisoner health matters for everyone.
Unless you or someone you love has been incarcerated, it’s easy to think that the health of prisoners is irrelevant to your life and health.
However, the high percentage of prisoners infected with contagious diseases like HIV and hepatitis C makes proper diagnosis, education, and treatment an issue of concern for all of us.
The U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics estimates that more than 6 percent of people in the United States (and more than 18 percent of African-Americans) will be incarcerated at some point during their lifetime. Almost all of these people will eventually be released back into the community, where they can pass contagious diseases on to others.
“The period just after an inmate is released from prison is an extremely risky time,” says Dr. Timothy Mastro, an HIV expert with the Centers for Disease Control. “For many former prisoners, the first thing they’ll do when released is seek sex and use drugs.”
Since every new case of infection has the potential to ripple through society at large, this is an issue that ultimately impacts all of us. Fortunately, diagnosis, education, and proper medical care while incarcerated can significantly reduce the chances that former prisoners will spread life-threatening diseases when they are released.
In addition, fewer new cases of infectious diseases, coupled with treatment for those already affected, could reduce overall health costs—and provide great medicine for our overburdened health care system.
HIV in Prisons
The CDC estimates that roughly 0.4 percent of Americans are infected with HIV. Rates of HIV in the prison system, however, are much higher: 2.3 percent of women and 1.7 percent of men in prison are HIV-positive.
Reducing Rates of Transmission
“With an infectious disease like HIV, one of the key strategies is to stop transmission. To do this, we try to identify people who are HIV infected,” explains Mastro. “Once people know they are infected, prevention programs can help them learn how to dramatically decrease risky behaviors so they don’t pass the infection along to others.”
In fact, the data shows that knowing your HIV status is an effective tool for controlling the spread of the disease. According to a study by the CDC, those who don’t know they are HIV-positive are at least three times more likely to spread the disease than those who do know.
Prisons can provide a great opportunity for routine testing. But while some prisons routinely test all new prisoners for HIV, there is no national law requiring this and practices vary from state to state.
That’s too bad, because knowledge of HIV status can not only helps reduce risky behavior, it’s also the critical first step towards receiving proper drug treatment. Such treatment not only benefits the individual, but also society as a whole, since proper drug treatment reduces viral load—and lower viral loads are associated with lower rates of transmission.