Socio-Economic Characteristics of HIV in a South African Prison

South Africa has placed increased importance on addressing the HIV/AIDS epidemic and has identified people inprisons as one of several high risk groups. Despite this emphasis, respective departments have not pursued the taskof data collection at all vigorously. A sample of 274 volunteer inmates was drawn from the Westville MaximumSecurity Prison, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal Province. A probit model was used and the data analysed to establishstatistically significant risk factors for transmission of HIV and importantly the characteristics of those who areinfected or not infected by HIV. The study found that sero-prevalence rates were significantly higher than thegeneral population, and that the two socio-economic factors correlating to HIV/AIDS were ethnicity and age.