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Summary of the practice

SOCIO Pakistan & SAAD Balochistan are implementing service delivery package for the jail inmates in central jail Mastung and district jail Pishin, through this project we focused on 250 jail inmates.  This project was the first service delivery project for the jail inmates in the province of Balochistan. We trained 80 peer educators during the project period. The following services were provided

1. Education regarding safer sex,

2. Peer educator trainings,

3. Establishment of Voluntary counselling and referral centre

4. Availability of condoms at VCR.

5. Behaviour Change Communication through theatre,

6. Distribution of Information, Education and Communication Materials.         

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Level of intervention

Developed working environment, close coordination and counselling of  Jail staff and inmates

Peer educator’s trainings.

Availability of condom, syringes and medicines for target group

Behaviour Change Communication (BCC) through theatre and Information, Education and Communication (IEC)  material on safer sex methods and condom use

Results sharing with the Government and the stakeholders involved in the project.

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Prospective users of the practice

After the completion of the project jail inmates in Central Jail Mastung and District Jail Pishin are practicing safer sex and using the condom during the sex. And consulting Dr. for the STIs.  

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Problem addressed

Increased Knowledge and practicing of HIV prevention including use of high quality STIs services in the targeted Jails.

Increased accessibility and use of condom, 

Strengthened capacity to effectively manage STIs/HIV&AIDS.

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Purpose of intervention

It is quite obvious from all the indicators that prisoners are most vulnerable and high risk group. Prisoners have not been actively involved in the process on information sharing and dissemination through peer groups.

Most of the prisoners are youth, IDUs, and they are involved in sexual activities, and they are not aware about STIs/HIV&AIDS. The purpose of intervention was to aware jail inmates about prevention of STIs/HIV&AIDS.  

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Context

Prevention of HIV&AIDS

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History and activities

History:

Mastung.

Mastung is situated 50 kilometres South of Quetta. Mastung was sub division of Kalat, due to administration reasons it separate in July 1991. In 18 February 1992 has functioned as a separate district. It lies between north latitudes 26 56 to 28 57 and east longitudes 65 52 to 66 35.The geography area of Mastung is 5896 Sq. KM. According to 1998 census population of the Mastung is 164650 and it is growing at rate of 1.31% per annum. Male were 87334 and female were 77331.The male and female ratio was 113 males per 100 females. Average household size was 7.39 persons and density was 27.9 persons /Sq.Km. 85.39 percent population were living in rural areas only 14.66 percent were living in urban areas. Mastung is a dominated by Brahvis, in the district 84.89 percent of the household were Brahvi speaking and 7.35 percent speaking were Pushto other languages spoken were Urdu, Punjabi, Salachi Hindko, Dehwari and Sindi.

MASTUNG CENTRAL JAIL

Mastung District Jail was established in 1942. The total Staff of the Jail was 46. It has 3 Prisoners Barracks and 1 Hall. Capacity of prisoners in jail was 70 but at the time of visit there were 110 prisoners in Jail. After checking the record of jail it was found that the average of prisoners in jail was between100-120. There were no Juvenal’s and Female in the Jail.

Pishin District

The district Pishin was part of Quetta Pishin District. In 1975 it was separated from Quetta for administrative reasons and became Pishin District. The area of Pishin district is 7819Sq. Km. Pishin District lies between 30 04 to 31 17 north latitudes and 66  13 to 67  50 east longitudes. According to 1998 census the population of the district was 367183 and it was growing at the rate of 3.57% per annum. Male were 196330 and female were 170853.The male and female ratio was 114.9 males per 100 females. Average household size was 6.8 persons and density was 47.0 persons /Sq.Km. 93.74 percent population were living in rural areas and only 6.26 percent were living in urban areas. Pishin district is mostly inhabited by Pashtoon and Pisto is widely spoken.

District Jail Pishin

Pishin District Jail was established in 1936. The total Staff of the Jail was 42. It has 6 Prisoners Barracks. Capacity of prisoners in jail was 120 but at the time of visit there were 42 prisoners in Jail. There were no Juvenal’s and Female in the Jail.

Description of Activities

Activities 1

1.1 Establishment of office, hiring of Staff

1.2 Orientation sessions for staff regarding Project  

1.3 one to one meeting/ regular meetings with target group.

Activities 2

2.1 Procurement of Condoms, general medicines/needles 

2.2 Establishment of Voluntary Counselling and Referral Center in District Jail Pishin & Mastung. 

2.3 Availability of condom/needles through VCR centre

2.4 Distribution / Dissemination of IEC materials 

Activities 3

3.1 Identification / Selection of Resource person

3.2 5 peer educator trainings, 3 days for 100 peer educators. 

3.3 Build collaboration for STIs Services.                               

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Steps in implementation

The following 7 steps for the implementation.

Hiring of Staff / Office Establishment

1 Project Coordinator through the donor contribution

1 Field Supervisor through the donor contribution

1 Doctor/Psychiatric through the donor contribution

4 Motivator through the donor contribution

1 watchman and

1 office boy through donor contribution

Education to Jail Staff / Inmates:-

Through this project  we provided information regarding safer sex and condom usage;  we also provided the knowledge of STI/ HIV prevention.

Specifically as most of the Jail inmates were IDU’s therefore education provided on HIV&AIDS through peer educator training and theatre, with the help of professional staff and resource material.

Training:-

80 peer educators trained on preventive / safer sex methods, those peer educators conducted orientation sessions with the Jail Inmates.

Theatre Shows:

Through shows we highlighted the causes of HIV transmission and promotion of the preventive measures.

Voluntary Counselling and Referral center (VCR)

Voluntary Counselling and Referral center established in both jails. Doctor/Psychiatrist services also provided in the VCR centres for treatment and Counselling.

Syringe  / Condom Availability:

Through VCR this facility made available to the Jail Inmates. Moreover syringes/needles provided for the reduction of HIV&AIDS transmission by IDU cases.

Public-Private Partnership:

The fact of working relationship with Jail authorities was one of the target of this project in terms of public private partnership. Furthermore, sharing of monthly progress report of the project done with the Govt. line department so as to cater support for the Project. Moreover the statistics provided helpful to the Govt. for updating their database.

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Duration

15^th June 2005 to November 2006.

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Resources required

1.5 Million PRS. For one year. 

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Indicators for monitoring

Minutes of the meetings, Visits Reports, Peer Educator training reports, Attendance reports, stock register.

·         Increased Knowledge and practicing of HIV prevention including use of high quality STIs services in the targeted Jails.

·         Increased accessibility and use of condom / syringes

·         Strengthened capacity to effectively manage HIV&AIDS/STIs.

·         Increased accessibility to STIs management and Screening.  

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Impact

After the intervention of project we observed that the behaviour of the inmates are very change, now they are practicing safer sex, they are aware about STIs/ HIV and other diseases.       

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Challenges and pitfalls

Due to strict taboos, cultural norms, in the start of the project we face lot of problems, but after few months our trained staff took those inmates in confidence.   

The following Challenges we faced

1. Discussion of STIs/HIV&AIDS, 2. Discussion on Sex, Discussion on condom,    

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Critical issues and lessons learnt

Through this project we focused the critical issues regarding the STIs/HIV&AIDS; we learned that any organization can bring change.

The project activities were as per project requirements because the project was designed with consultation of Balochistan AIDS Network, Pakistan National AIDS Consortium and Interact worldwide Pakistan.

Through those we observed that there were lot of changes in the target groups, when we conducted Rapid Situational Analysis (RSA) the result shows the change. We learnt that consultation is very important for every project at all level.       

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Source of practice and dialogue

The source of practice and dialogue was “meeting with the target group”

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Editor’s note for learning

This format useful for me and I learned from this format.