Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2007. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Sunday Times (Johannesburg) - June 8, 2007
Monica Laganparsad
The Aids Law Project revealed its plans for the treatment of HIV-positive prisoners yesterday at an Aids conference in Durban.
The project, the prisons authorities and the department of health have been embroiled in a heated court battle since last year over the provision of ARV treatment for prisoners at Westville Prison.
An application for a court order that would compel the prisons department to provide ARV treatments was made on behalf of 15 prisoners, three of whom have since died.
Judge Thumba Pillay agreed that the health minister and the Department of Correctional Services must provide ARVs for infected prisoners .
He ordered the department to set out in detail how it would deal with the treatment of HIV- positive prisoners.
But the Aids Law Project said yesterday that though it had been agreed that a treatment plan would be implemented at prisons around the country, nothing had been done.
Jonathan Berger, a senior researcher for the project, said the project had been given the go-ahead by the government but, two weeks before the matter was due to go back to court, officials denied that an agreement had been reached.
He said the planned treatment framework would deal with access , regular testing and nutrition.
Berger said some prisoners at the Westville facility did not have access to condoms.
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