CAT/OP/BRA/2/Add.1
117. Every state in the federation has now joined the Prison Health Plan, making for a
total of 271 health-care teams spread over 239 correctional facilities and attending to a
significant share of the prison population (around 150,000 persons), as the figure below
shows. The Plan accounts for health coverage of 30.69 per cent of the prison population,
offering preventive action, promotion or treatment for problems such as dental health,
women’s health, sexually transmitted diseases, HIV/AIDS and hepatitis, mental health,
screening for tuberculosis, hypertension and diabetes, leprosy vaccination and taking
samples for laboratory tests; coverage also involves basic pharmaceutical care, the
objective being to give priority to comprehensive care. The Brazilian State recognizes the
need to expand the programme, since all citizens have the right to health.
Figure I
Prison system health-care teams: year-on-year increase
Source: CNES/DATASUS/MS.
118. To supplement the Prison Health Plan, a new policy, the National Policy on
Comprehensive Health Care for Persons Deprived of their Liberty in the Prison System,
was established under the Unified Health System (SUS), by Interministerial Ordinance No.
1/2014 of 2 January 2014 (annex VIII).
119. The objective of the new prison health policy is to guarantee persons deprived of
liberty access to the comprehensive care offered by Brazil’s unified public health-care
system (SUS). The policy objectives are:
(a)
Promotion of citizenship and inclusion of persons deprived of their liberty by
working with the different sectors of social development, such as education, work and
security;
(b)
Effective, ongoing and quality comprehensive responses to the health needs
of the prison population, with an emphasis on preventive care but without prejudice to
curative services;
(c)
Containment or reduction of the medical conditions most commonly found
among the prison population;
GE.14-42059
27
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