Prisoners with HIV/AIDS: a Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) initiative in Malaysia

This paper describes the result of a Participatory Learning and Action initiative that took place among prisoners' known to be HIV positive in Malaysia. Although the area of preventing the spread of HIV in prisons has become of primary concern and is being tackled, the issue of caring for those already infected with the virus is given little emphasis. PLA was carried out in three prisons over four weeks in order to understand what HIV infected prisoners considered high priorities and thus to generate related ideas for projects. Medical, dietary, religious and personal hygiene needs were all listed as a priority with project proposals ranging from small-scale generation income to regular prisoner/authority dialogue. In the discussion, the author concludes that when undertaking PLA in a tightly controlled social context, certain principles should be adhered to, which are listed and briefly described.