HIV/AIDS is a pandemic with international impact and prison inmates have not been spared from its devastating effects. Zambia Prisons service has put in place measures to mitigate the effects of HIV/AIDS/TB and other related diseases in prisons. The establishment of medical directorate and the launch of policy and strategic action plan documents on HIV/AIDs, TB, STIs and other diseases in prisons so far helped in curbing death rates of inmates and officers.

A practice worth emulating within the Zambia Prisons service is the comprehensive health care programmes available for both the treatment and prevention of HIV/AIDs and other related diseases like Tuberculosis. HIV/STD sensitizations are carried out both within the prisons and among Prison officers. While peer educators are trained among inmates to educate and encourage fellow inmates to go for HIV tests and treatment, psychosocial counselors, also known as Home-Based Caregivers, are trained among Prison Officers and their spouses. A typical example can be found in prisons like the Maximum Security Prison in the Central region of Zambia which have Tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS corner made up of two prison officers from the Health unit and three prisoners who provide Health education (twice a week), Voluntary Counseling and Testing for inmates and officers.

The Home-based caregivers are trained to provide motivation and health education to infected Prison Officers or their spouses. They also organize monetary and material donations from the community used for the care of the sick. Tuberculosis supporters and Home based caregivers are also trained to help in monitoring Prison staff on Tuberculosis treatment and Anti-Retroviral treatments to ensure that they are complying with their treatment requirements. There is an efficient reporting system in place to ensure that the Zambia Prison headquarters is kept a abreast of this process. All activities executed by the Caregivers are reported to the Headquarters through the regional coordinators and station coordinators.

In order to ensure sustainability of this process Training of Trainers programmes are also carried out for Prison Officers so that they can train other prison officers and inmates. The World AIDS day, National VCT day and Tuberculosis day are celebrated annually within the prisons. They provide an opportunity for the Health directorate of the Zambia Prisons to create awareness of these diseases within prisons. In order to encourage the work of the Health Directorate, these three days are funded every year from the Prison Service Budget.

In Zambia it is mandatory for an in-coming or out-going inmate to be tested for Tuberculosis. Out-going inmates are tested two weeks before their discharge date and in the event that they are positive, they are immediately put under treatment. These Health programmes are further encouraged through the partnership between the Zambia Prisons service and various institutions like the Zambia Ministry of Health, the Society for Family health, Zimbabwe Association of Crime Prevention and Rehabilitation of Offender (ZACRO) and CHRESO. All the clinics in prisons are administered by the Ministry of Health through the district health department. They are mandated with the treatment and care of inmates and prison officers. In order to monitor the morbidity rate within the prisons, all clinics are mandated to send every piece of information relating to health in prisons to the Ministry of Health.

Zambia prisons have about 29 clinics and all the drugs used are provided by the Ministry of Health. In order for a clinic to become an approved Anti-retroviral Treatment centre by the Ministry of Health, it has to have proper laboratory facilities, pharmacy with a capable pharmacist, and nurses and clinicians trained in the management of Anti-Retroviral treatment. Prisons are not permitted to administer Anti Retroviral treatments directly to inmates Non-governmental organizations like Chresco who work in partnership with the prisons medical unit, provide Anti-retroviral treatments and counseling to inmates. Another organization partnering with the Prisons Service is ZACRO which helps in renovating health facilities, transport, training of medical personnel and procurement of drugs in prisons.

The Zambia Prison Service clinics are not only used by the Prison inmates and officers, but also by the surrounding communities.