What Works for Women and Girls

D’Ivoire, Cuba, Estonia, Indonesia, Lithuania, Malawi, Malaysia, Romania, Rwanda, Slovakia,South Africa, Ukraine, Vietnam, Yemen and Zambia. Injecting drug use is common in prisonpopulations and eight countries reported greater than 10% prevalence of IDUs in prison.HIV prevalence among IDU prisoners was found reported in eight countries and was greaterthan 10% in seven countries: China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Libya, Russian, and Serbia andMontenegro (Dolan et al., 2007). Interventions that address drug use and provide preventioneducation and condom use are urgently needed to reduce HIV risk among women prisonersand female partners of male prisoners.What Works—Prevention for Key Affected Populations: Women Prisoners and FemalePartners of Male Prisoners1. Harm reduction strategies such as education, peer distribution of clean needles andcondom provision within prisons can reduce the risk of HIV infection and IDU use infemale prison populations.2. Making opioid substitution treatment available in prisons can be effective in reducingHIV transmission.EVIDENCE1. Harm reduction strategies such as education, distribution of clean needles and condomprovision within prisons can reduce the risk of HIV infection and IDU use in female prisonpopulations (Farabee and Leukefield, 1999; Dolan et al., 1998, cited in Farmer, 1999).A study of harm reduction programs in prisons in Moldova from 2007 to 2008 withseven site visits to prisons, including one women’s prison, and one site visit to a pretrialdetention facility, along with interviews with prisoners, pretrial detainees, staff of anNGO that provides harm reduction services in prisons and penitentiary staff officialsand employees at national and local levels found that comprehensive harm reductionservices in prisons has suggested a reduction in the prevalence of HIV and Hepatitis Cand reduction in HIV-related stigma and discrimination. Prior to the project, both guardsand prisoners isolated and avoided prisoners who were thought to be HIV-positive.In 1999, legal changes made safe distribution of clean needles within prisons allowableand harm reduction is now part of the national HIV/AIDS plan from 2006 to2010. In 1999, prison authorities allowed distribution of clean needles within prisonsonly because they were legally required to do so; but by 2007, prison officials realizedthat distribution of needles resulted in a decline in HIV cases and increased safety forstaff and prisoners. Starting in 1999, peer educators within prisons distributed safeWHAT WORKS FOR WOMEN AND GIRLS101