%0 Journal Article
%T Impact of Intravenous Drug Use on HIV/AIDS among Women Prisoners: A Mathematical Modelling Approach
%A C. P. Bhunu
%A S. Mushayabasa
%J ISRN Computational Biology
%D 2013
%R 10.1155/2013/718039
%X Intravenous drug use and tattooing remain one of the major routes of HIV/AIDS transmission among prisoners. We formulate and analyze a deterministic model for the role of intravenous drug use in HIV/AIDS transmission among women prisoners. With the aid of the Centre Manifold theory, the endemic equilibrium is shown to be locally asymptotically stable when the corresponding reproduction number is greater than unity. Analysis of the reproduction number and numerical simulations suggest that an increase in intravenous drug use among women prisoners as they fail to cope with prison settings fuels the HIV/AIDS epidemic in women prisoners. Failure to control HIV/AIDS among female prisoners may be a time bomb to their communities upon their release. Thus, it may be best to consider free needle/syringe exchange and drug substitution treatment programmes in women prisons as well as considering open prison systems for less serious crimes. 1. Introduction The imprisonment of large numbers of drug addicts has the potential to create environments within which social networks that enhance the transmission of infectious diseases form [1¨C6]. Prisons are high-risk settings for HIV transmission. However, HIV prevention and treatment are not adequately developed and implemented to respond to HIV in prisons [7]. There is evidence to show that health programmes for the particular needs of imprisoned drug users are not enough in USA and Canada [8, 9]. In Russia, a study of intravenous drug users demonstrated the critical role of prisons in the transmission of HIV through high levels of needle (syringes) sharing among the imprisoned [10]. In many jurisdictions, a larger proportion of women than men are in prison for drug related offences [11]. Drug use and HIV infection are more prevalent among women in prison than among imprisoned men [12]. Women in prisons are more susceptible to self-harm through unsafe tattooing and injecting drug use [13]. In the absence of sterile injecting equipment, women, like men, will inject with used needles or home-made syringes, Doll [14] Like men, women get tattooed in prison [14]. In the absence of proper precautions and access to safe equipment tattooing can be a high-risk activity for the transmission of HIV [15, 16]. Women constitute a very small proportion of the total prison population, globally accounting 5% of the total prison population [15]. Women prisoners present specific challenges for correctional authorities as most of the existing prison facilities for women inmates have all being developed for men, who have historically
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/isrn.computational.biology/2013/718039/