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ARVs on cards for inmates

    JOHANNESBURG

    A recent hunger strike by HIV-positive inmates for anti-AIDS drugs at South Africa's Westville Prison, in the east coast city of Durban, has had the desired effect, prison authorities admitted on Wednesday.

    Correctional services deputy commissioner Tebogo Motseki said prisoners would be provided with the identity documents required to access antiretroviral (ARV) treatment.

    It was this same requirement which sparked the protest action, and saw the Johannesburg-based AIDS Law Project lodge a court interdict to force the department of correctional services to provide them with ARVs.

    Motseki told the local Mercury newspaper that the move to make ARVs more readily accessible to inmates follows intense negotiations between the departments of health, home affairs and correctional services.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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