LEAHN Country Focal Point and former Moldovan Prison Health Services officer, Svetlana Doltu, recently attended the Inside & Out conference in Ontario, Canada, which focused on the topic of ‘Changing the course of the HIV prevention, engagement and care cascade for current and former prisoners’.
Svetlana presented compelling data on the success of harm reduction in Moldovan prisons saying:
‘Fifteen years of harm reduction work in our prisons has proven this work is critically important AND cost effective and that harm reduction interventions can be fully implemented in prison settings. We were often told that NEP [needle exchange programs] in prisons was just impossible. It is possible, feasible and absolutely necessary.’
Watch the YouTube video here to find out how these great results have been achieved.
Share your tips on negotiating implementation of harm reduction programs in the comments section below. We’d love to hear from you!