UNODC-COPAK Initiates Virtual Training for Standard Operating Procedures on HIV Testing and Counselling for Prisons in Pakistan

16 June 2020, Islamabad - The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) initiates Virtual Training for Standard Operating Procedures on HIV Testing and Counselling for Prisons in Pakistan. 

Prisoners fall under the key population at high risk of contracting HIV. To prevent and treat PLHIV  within prison settings, it is important that prison staff be well-equipped with the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) of conducting HIV Testing and Counselling (HTC).

‘Interventions for HIV/AIDS can be found in community settings; however within prisons the access to these services is very limited. To reach our target of ending HIV/AIDS as a public health threat by 2030, we need to improve the HIV interventions in prison systems,’ stated Dr Manzoor ul Haq, Programme Advisor DDR and HIV/AIDS, UNODC-COPAK.

To build the capacity of prison staff in Pakistan on SOPs on HTC, UNODC-COPAK in collaboration with UNAIDS Pakistan is organizing periodic virtual trainings from 16 June to 10 July 2020.

These virtual trainings, to allow for interactive sessions, are divided on a weekly basis according to the four provinces of Pakistan. From 16 to 19 June the prison staff of Sindh –comprising Medical Officers, Women’s Medical Officers, Assistant Superintendents, Dispensers, and Constables – are taking part in the training.

The focus of the virtual training is on the importance of comprehensive HIV prevention, treatment, and care programmes in prisons; modes of HIV transmission and its prevention; stigma associated to HIV; importance of psycho-social support for the prisoners; establishing HIV Testing and Counselling HTC Centres in prisons; Pre/Post Test Counselling; HIV Rapid Testing; Post Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP); referral, and linkages.