UAE: Prisoners Denied Lifesaving HIV Treatment

Interruptions Endanger Detainees

(Beirut) – United Arab Emirates (UAE) prison authorities are denying non-national HIV-positive detainees in at least one UAE prison regular and uninterrupted access to lifesaving antiretroviral treatment, Human Rights Watch said today. Detainees living with HIV are also segregated from the rest of the prison population in an isolated area and report facing stigma and systemic discrimination. Dubai's skyline, United

Multiple sources, including former non-national detainees in Al Awir Central Jail’s HIV units in Dubai, told Human Rights Watch that, while they are tested for HIV every three to six months, unlike the Emirati detainees held with them, HIV treatment is often delayed and interrupted, and sometimes denied altogether. Sources close to them reported that four prisoners said in September that they had not received any medication for between three and five months and that this is not the first time prison authorities have delayed critical medical treatment.

“The UAE has an obligation to provide health care, including antiretroviral medicines, to all prisoners in their custody without discrimination,” said Michael Page, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “Denying, delaying, and interrupting treatment for HIV for non-national prisoners is a flagrant violation of the right to health and potentially the right to life.”

Continuity of care is crucial to effective treatment of HIV, resulting in decreased levels of circulating virus (or viral load), protecting an individual’s immune system, and reducing the possibility of transmission. Interruptions in treatment can increase the risk of developing viral resistance and lead to a much higher risk of fatal opportunistic infections.