Roughly 42,000 HIV-positive prisoners are not receiving proper treatment due to poor patient education, lack of physicians and bureaucratic barriers, reports The Moscow Times (moscowtimes.com, 1/24).
According to the article, most positive patients in Russia are tested for the first time upon prison entry. Once incarcerated, they receive little if any post-test counseling and treatment education. While federal prison officials say that antiretroviral drugs and other forms of treatment are administered, The Moscow Times reports that prison medical officials are often lax when it comes to promoting treatment adherence.
“Prison doctors can offer treatment, but they will not persuade each inmate to undergo it,” says Yelena Panasenko, a coordinator of support groups with HIV/AIDS in the Saratov region. Panasenko adds that very few non-governmental organizations are fighting for prisoner antiretroviral programs.
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Beth Benne, RN, is HIV negative, but
the virus has impacted her life. She currently supervises a biannual HIV/AIDS awareness week as
the director of the student health center at Pierce College, a
community commuter school in Woodland Hills, California.
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Overheard in the Women's Forum
"I recently met a guy who is negative. I did tell him about my status and he decided to kiss me anyway (we didn't go further than that). But a day later, he called and said that he actually had a mouth ulcer that time when we kissed and he was very worried. Asked if he can get the virus from me that way. For that moment, I felt so insulted and yet I felt so bad. It was my first time having a contact with a "negative" guy."
