UNAIDS / MOLDOVA PRISONS
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STORY: UNAIDS / MOLDOVA PRISONS
TRT: 04:43
SOURCE: UNAIDS
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: / NATS
DATELINE: MARCH 2023, MOLDOVA
1. Wide shot, prison number 9 exterior
2. Wide shot, guard walks outside prison wall
3. Close up, prison wall with chain link fence
4. Wide shot, wall with chain link fence
5. Wide shot, prisoner walking to health unit / pharmacy of prison number 16, Pruncul
6. Wide shot, Alexander Godin, prisoner, sits in chair with nurse welcoming him.
7. Med shot, nurse has him sign registry
8. Close up, methadone dispenser (opioid substitution therapy) 200 ml dose
9. Close up, plastic cup with methadone dose for Godin
10. Pan left, nurse hands cup to Godin
11. Med shot, Godin drinks from cup
12. Various shots, prisoner leaves medical unit
13. SOUNDBITE (Moldovan) Alexander Godin, Prisoner:
“I have been on methadone substitution treatment for 10 years. My family made this decision. Before that, I used drugs, opioids. For this, money was needed, problems began in the family. The family recommended me to the drug dispensary and since then I have been on the programme.”
14. Close up, nurse getting medicine ready for another prisoner
15. Close up, nurse hands medicine to prisoner
16. Close up, nurse fills plastic cup with water
17. Close up, prisoner’s hands taking cup to drink to swallow medicine
18. Med shot, Angelica Gincu, Head of Neurology Department at Prison 16, (right) with colleague Maria Potrîmba, Head of Infectious Disease Department (left) in an office
19. Close up, Angelica’s hand fidgeting with a pen
20. SOUNDBITE (Moldovan) Angelica Gincu, Head, Neurology Department, Prison 16:
“In our penitentiary, there is a substitution program with methadone and buprenorphine.”
21. Med shot, Potrîmba writing in an agenda
22. Close up, writing in agenda
23. SOUNDBITE (Moldovan) Maria Potrîmba, Head, Infectious Disease Department, Prison 16:
“If the patient is on this substitution treatment, he is more aware of the consequences. He adheres more to his treatment.”
24. Close up, sign of Prison 13, Chisinau
25. Med shot, prisoner volunteer walking in prison with box for used syringes
26. Close up, box for used syringes
27. Close up, volunteer unlatches opening in prison door and inmate hands over plastic bag with used syringes and deposits it in the box
28. Close up, prisoner taking clean needles from volunteer
29. Close up, volunteer closing door opening with latch
30. Close up, used syringes in cardboard box being closed up
31. SOUNDBITE (Moldovan) Prison Volunteer:
“On the average once every two days I distribute 20-30 syringes, it depends.”
32. Wide shot, Oleg Costru and Irina Barbîros, Head of the medical department for entire Penitentiary Administration with a nurse discussing
33. SOUNDBITE (Moldovan) Oleg Costru, Head, Medical Unit, Prison Number 13:
“The volunteers are all prisoners, and the vast majority of volunteers are also people who have been treated for communicable diseases.”
34. Pan right, Costru,
35. SOUNDBITE (Moldovan) Oleg Costru, Head, Medical Unit, Prison Number 13:
“Harm reduction services are very important for both inmates and for prison employees.”
36. Wide shot, Costru and Barbîros, with nurse
37. SOUNDBITE (Moldovan) Irina Barbîros, Head, Medical Department, Moldova Penitentiary Administration:
“In the beginning, when these services were developed, they were actually financed from external sources. Over the years, the state assumed its commitment and took over the financing of these services from the state budget.”
38. Close up, United Nations entities Moldova sign
39. Close up, UNAIDS logo
40. Wide shot, UNAIDS Moldova Country Director Svetlana Plamadeala
41. Close up, UNAIDS Moldova mug while she types
42. Wide shot, Svetlana Plamadeala at her desk typing at computer
43. SOUNDBITE (English) Svetlana Plamadeala, Country Director, UNAIDS Moldova:
“In Moldova the HIV burden is highest among key populations and it also affects inmates. UNAIDS Country Office supported the government to pilot harm reduction programmes and opioid substitution treatment in prisons since early 2000. Today we are celebrating the fact that we extended those services from several pilots to the entire penitentiary system or every prison has those services. It is really about putting people in front and people at center. And it is also about a public health approach.”
34. Wide shot, Chisinau street scene, people walking
35. Wide shot, Chisinau park, people and birds flying around
36. Wide shot, pedestrian road with people in distance
Ahead of International Harm Reduction Day, marked on 7 May, UNAIDS says that in order to end AIDS by 2030, no one can be left behind. And that includes people who use drugs.
Many prison systems are struggling to cope with overcrowding, inadequate resources, limited access to healthcare and other support services, violence and drug use. In 2021, the estimated numbers of people in prisons increased by 24 percent since 2020 to more than 10 million people.
Drug use is prevalent in prisons. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime estimates that in some countries up to 50 percent of people in prison use or inject drugs. Unsafe drug injecting practices are a major risk factor for the transmission of blood-borne infections such as HIV and hepatitis C due to limited access to harm reduction services including condoms, clean needles and syringes, and a lack of comprehensive drug treatment programmes, particularly opioid agonist therapy (OAT).
Since 2000, a few prisons in Moldova have offered harm reduction services. Now all do.
Any new prisoner to the country’s 17 penitentiaries sees a psychiatrist, a doctor and if needed is offered to join a treatment programme.
Alexander Godin moves through a number of locked doors escorted by a guard to Prison 16’s pharmacy.
This is part of his daily routine. He comes to get his medicine – a syrup-like dose of methadone.
SOUNDBITE (Moldovan) Alexander Godin, Prisoner:
“I have been on methadone substitution treatment for 10 years. My family made this decision. Before that, I used drugs, opioids. For this, money was needed, problems began in the family. The family recommended me to the drug dispensary and since then I have been on the programme.”
Methadone is an OAT to help people overcome withdrawal symptoms, decrease heroin dependence and prevent HIV infection from infected needles.
SOUNDBITE (Moldovan) Angelica Gincu, Head, Neurology Department, Prison 16:
“In our penitentiary, there is a substitution program with methadone and buprenorphine.”
SOUNDBITE (Moldovan) Maria Potrîmba, Head, Infectious Disease Department, Prison 16:
“If the patient is on this substitution treatment, he is more aware of the consequences. He adheres more to his treatment.”
SOUNDBITE (Moldovan) Prison Volunteer:
“On the average once every two days I distribute 20-30 syringes, it depends.”
SOUNDBITE (Moldovan) Oleg Costru, Head, Medical Unit, Prison Number 13:
“The volunteers are all prisoners, and the vast majority of volunteers are also people who have been treated for communicable diseases.”
SOUNDBITE (Moldovan) Oleg Costru, Head, Medical Unit, Prison Number 13:
“Harm reduction services are very important for both inmates and for prison employees.”
HIV prevalence is 11 percent among people who inject drugs in Moldova vs 0.36 percent among the general population. They are one of the most affected groups in the country.
SOUNDBITE (Moldovan) Irina Barbiroș, Head, Medical Department, Moldova Penitentiary Administration:
“In the beginning, when these services were developed, they were actually financed from external sources. Over the years, the state assumed its commitment and took over the financing of these services from the state budget.”
UNAIDS, and other UN partners have been long-time supporters of expanding these services to all prisons. Currently, according to Harm Reduction International, only 59 countries globally provide OAT in prisons.
SOUNDBITE (English) Svetlana Plamadeala, Country Director, UNAIDS Moldova:
“In Moldova the HIV burden is highest among key populations and it also affects inmates. UNAIDS Country Office supported the government to pilot harm reduction programmes and opioid substitution treatment in prisons since early 2000. Today we are celebrating the fact that we extended those services from several pilots to the entire penitentiary system or every prison has those services. It is really about putting people in front and people at center. And it is also about a public health approach.”
This, even though harm reduction has been proven to not increase the number of people with drug dependency but rather provide personal and public health benefits.