The 1st World Conference on Health in Detention

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Most people in detention come from marginalized segments of society, shouldering a higher than average burden of ill-health with less access to healthcare services. Once detained, an individual's health may worsen due to poor living conditions, such as deficient sanitation, unbalanced diets and other adverse determinants of health.

 

Overcrowding increases the likelihood of transmission of infectious diseases—most notably TB, HIV and hepatitis. The increase of general life expectancy in some countries, as well as the trend towards increasing the length of sentences and the introduction of harsh sentences have influenced the growth of the older prison population in many countries worldwide, increasing the burden of non-communicable diseases in detention health systems.

 

The stress from living in the detention environment also increases the likelihood of risky behaviours—such as drug use or self-harm—compounding the adverse effects detention has on mental and physical health. Operating with fewer resources than community health services, places of detention often struggle to meet the high demands for health care.

 

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the health vulnerabilities of people living and working in detention, underscoring the major challenges to implementing effective infection prevention and control measures (IPC) throughout a detention facility. Though one often thinks of detention facilities as isolated spaces, they are never totally walled off from society.

 

There is a constant movement of staff, visitors, transfers, medical personnel, releases and new admissions. This flow of regular exchanges between places of detention and society emphasizes the importance of investing in health in detention to also protect surrounding communities. Health in detention is a vital component to public health.

 

To manage COVID-19 effectively, we must ensure health care for all — including people living and working in detention. COVID-19 has exposed the gaps that exist in healthcare in detention provision globally and this conference aims to delve into the evidence and look at how to implement solutions to improve health in detention across many different contexts. 

 

Learning from each other's experiences at the conference will help us work together to strengthen health systems in detention, to better integrate health in detention into public health and to facilitate more cross-sectoral work. Through this meeting we hope to embrace these challenges and explore the emerging need for sustainable digital transformation and to place people at the center of policy measures to achieve health for All, making the invisible visible and leaving no one behind.

 

 

 

 

More information & Registration: https://health-in-detention.icrc.org/