effectiveness of harm reduction programs in seven prisons of Iran

Starting in 1990 many programs were initiated to prevent and control the spread of HIV/AIDS in prisons in accordance with the policies of the Ministry of Health. This study attempts to evaluate the effectiveness of harm reduction programs vis-a-vis drug abuse and dependency in 7 prisons in Iran. The methodology used is Before-After testing and the sample population is incarcerated prisoners in 7 large prisons in 7 provinces with diverse geographical, criminal, and numerical factors and the population sample is estimated at 2,200 inmates. Findings show that Drug addiction tests conducted on prisoners, right after their admittance indicated that 57% used at least one of the three drugs of morphine, amphetamines, and hashish [52% morphine, 4.5% amphetamines, and 3.9% hashish]. Two months later, on the 2nd phase of the study, test results indicated that only 10% of subjects continued using drugs [P=0.05]. Heroin and opium were the two most prevalent drugs. Smoking, oral in-take, and sniffing were the three most popular methods. Of those who continued to use drugs in prison, 95% admitted to drug use records. Intervention policies in prisons resulted in reduction of drug consumption, from 57% of the newly admitted inmates to 10% after two months of incarceration

Epidemiologic study of TB in Iranian prisons during April-September 2004

Despite the advances in medical technology has resulted in decrease of occurrence of infectious disease, tuberculosis is still the most common cause of mortality. Prisoners are at high risk of acquiring TB. The most common reasons are overcrowding, malnutrition, high-risk behaviors, addiction and HIV infection. In current study, the epidemiology and prevalence of TB in prisons in Iran was investigated. Checklists were obtained prisons throughout of iran from and data were then analyzed to determine the prevalence of TB among the prisoners. In this study, 339 patients were diagnosed with TB. All patients were older than 15 years. All except two patients were male. In 83 cases, TB infection is along with HIV. Because of unfavorable environment of prison the level of TB in prisons is higher than that of the civilian population. Additionally high levels of MDR-TB in prisons have been reported from some studies. The results obtained from current study indicated the prevalence of TB also is high in Iranian prisons and in 83 persons it was along with HIV infection which can make difficulty in treatment and increase the risk of MDR. These results show the important role of control and treatment of TB in prisons