Pathfinder
Editor, Senior Moderator
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TB wreaks havoc in Zim?s prisons.
By Itai Mazire and Fatima Bulla.
TUBERCULOSIS (TB) prevalence at the country?s 46 correctional centres is said to have shot up to levels much higher than the national rate with 73 of the 91 inmates who have died since the beginning of the year having succumbed to the disease and other HIV and Aids-related illnesses.
There are fears that the situation might worsen if adequate steps are not taken to curtail the incidence of the ailments.
According to the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare, the country?s TB incidence rate stands at an estimated 700 cases per 100 000 people while the infection rate in prisons, although not quantified, is much higher mainly due to overcrowding, which makes it easier for airborne tuberculosis and other chest infectious diseases to spread.
The principal director in the Ministry of Justice and Legal Affairs, Mr David Ranga, last week confirmed the dire situation in prisons.
He attributed the problem to budgetary constraints, which, he said, were making it difficult for authorities to provide special diets for the 1 200 inmates living with HIV and Aids. This, he said, also inhibited the authorities? capacity to counter TB.
?The TB burden in prisons remains huge with a much higher prevalence rate compared to the national prevalence rate.
?The Zimbabwe Prison Service (ZPS) has 1 200 inmates on anti-retroviral therapy (ART). So far this year, a total of 91 prisoners have died and 73 of them as a result of HIV and Aids-related illnesses.
?The most common causes of HIV-related deaths are tuberculosis, chest infections, chief being pneumonia, diarrhoea and malignancies (HIV-related cancers),? said Mr Ranga.
He said those on ART were getting plumpy?nut either as supplementary or therapeutic feed in addition to their normal meals.
?More could be done in this respect, say a glass of milk daily, peanut butter added to maize meal porridge and fruits, but financial constraints make this impossible.?
Currently an average of 50 to 100 prisoners share a single cell and the inmates spend most of their time holed up in these cells, putting unaffected prisoners at the risk of contracting airborne diseases...
http://www.sundaymail.co.zw/inside.aspx?sectid=19203&cat=12
<TABLE style="WIDTH: 48px; HEIGHT: 23px" id=Table1 border=0 cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=1 width=48><TBODY><TR><TD noWrap>Sunday, October 17, 2010</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
TB wreaks havoc in Zim?s prisons.
By Itai Mazire and Fatima Bulla.
TUBERCULOSIS (TB) prevalence at the country?s 46 correctional centres is said to have shot up to levels much higher than the national rate with 73 of the 91 inmates who have died since the beginning of the year having succumbed to the disease and other HIV and Aids-related illnesses.
There are fears that the situation might worsen if adequate steps are not taken to curtail the incidence of the ailments.
According to the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare, the country?s TB incidence rate stands at an estimated 700 cases per 100 000 people while the infection rate in prisons, although not quantified, is much higher mainly due to overcrowding, which makes it easier for airborne tuberculosis and other chest infectious diseases to spread.
The principal director in the Ministry of Justice and Legal Affairs, Mr David Ranga, last week confirmed the dire situation in prisons.
He attributed the problem to budgetary constraints, which, he said, were making it difficult for authorities to provide special diets for the 1 200 inmates living with HIV and Aids. This, he said, also inhibited the authorities? capacity to counter TB.
?The TB burden in prisons remains huge with a much higher prevalence rate compared to the national prevalence rate.
?The Zimbabwe Prison Service (ZPS) has 1 200 inmates on anti-retroviral therapy (ART). So far this year, a total of 91 prisoners have died and 73 of them as a result of HIV and Aids-related illnesses.
?The most common causes of HIV-related deaths are tuberculosis, chest infections, chief being pneumonia, diarrhoea and malignancies (HIV-related cancers),? said Mr Ranga.
He said those on ART were getting plumpy?nut either as supplementary or therapeutic feed in addition to their normal meals.
?More could be done in this respect, say a glass of milk daily, peanut butter added to maize meal porridge and fruits, but financial constraints make this impossible.?
Currently an average of 50 to 100 prisoners share a single cell and the inmates spend most of their time holed up in these cells, putting unaffected prisoners at the risk of contracting airborne diseases...
http://www.sundaymail.co.zw/inside.aspx?sectid=19203&cat=12