The 27th December is the International Day of Epidemic Preparedness. We know that pandemics affect us all and that the most socially and economically vulnerable are most adversely affected. That is why António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, has described the recent Covid pandemic as ‘An opportunity to build back a more equal and sustainable world.’ Despite this, people in prison are often neglected in pandemic planning, as demonstrated by the recent WHO publication ‘Prisons and other places of detention in pandemic preparedness plans across the WHO European Region in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic’.
Below, Dr Claire Blackmore, a public health consultant who works for the World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe on pandemic preparedness and who wrote the report with the WHO Health in Prisons Programme, explains why prisons and other places of detention should not be neglected: ‘no one is safe until we are all safe’.
For resources to support the pandemic preparedness in prisons, including an e-learning course, please see : Article: Toolkit for Making Prisons Resilient to Infectious Diseases • WEPHREN (tghn.org). These have been developed by World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe Health in Prisons programme with support from the UK Health Security Agency.
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