United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

The UNODC Regional Office in East Africa (ROEA)

Beau Bassin Prison, Mauritius. 

Mandela Rule 24, para.2

"Health-care services should be organized in close relationship to the general public health administration and in a way that ensures continuity of treatment and care, including for HIV, tuberculosis and other infectious diseases, as well as for drug dependence".

In Mauritius, drug use is one of the main contributors to the HIV epidemic and therefore both opioid substitution therapy and needle syringe programmes were put in place nationally. In prison, the prisoners who were accessing treatment in the community can continue their treatment, in the prison setting, without interruption.

The main driver of the HIV epidemic in Mauritius is among Injection Drug Users (IDUs). Two major measures taken to address this issue at a national level were the successful implementation of MST and NEP programs. We at the prison level have not only ensured continuity of MST but also induced IDUs on MST at entry level. The programme was initiated under the guidance of the Ministry of Health and the Quality of Life.

In 2013, as per the below photo, Mr. Michel Sidibe, UNAIDS Executive Director, visited the OST prison services and commending the Mauritian authorities on their efforts to assure equity of care in prison services.