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tag: female,
male, commercial, floating, street, sex workers, aids, hiv, csws, idus, fsws,
girls, women, consensual, premarital, exmarital, sexuality, empowerment,
gender, education, prevention, dhaka, india, pakistan, bangladesh,
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abuse, forced sex, risky sexual behaviour, business, multi partner sex,
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men who have sex with men, msm, harassment, sugar daddies, relationships,
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workers, gay, hijras, hermaphrodites, professional blood donors, heroin
smokers, hotel, brothel, street based commercial sex workers, casual sex
workers, so called sex workers, violence, exploitation, Rainbow Nari O
Shishu Kallyan Foundation, Mohammad Khairul Alam
Mohammad Khairul
Alam
Executive Director
Rainbow Nari O
Shishu Kallyan Foundation
24/3 M.C. Roy Lane
Dhaka-122
Bangladesh
rainbowngo@gmail.com
www.newsletter.com.bd
Tell: 880-2-8628908
Mobile: 01711344997
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HIV/AIDS
– A Challenge for Human Development
Acquired Immune
Defiency Syndrome (AIDS) is a viral Sexual Transmission Diseases (STDs)
which threatens life expectancy and, with it, development, social cohesion,
political stability and food security. It imposes a devastating economic
burden on countries. It affects everyone in both developed and less develops
countries. It is not a disease of poverty. It is not individual problem. But
the epidemic does push people deeper into poverty, making it more difficult
for them to sustain or recover their earlier livelihoods. That, in turn, can
make people and their families more vulnerable to HIV/AIDS infection.
In
Bangladesh, commercial
female sex workers (CSWs) are among the most vulnerable groups. Certainly,
young women’ prostitution is mounting in Bangladesh. Young women engage or
are forced into prostitution for trafficking or socio-economic reasons. Most
of them CSWs are the age of teen and illiterate. Their profession exposes
them to tremendous risk and increases the likelihood of their
partners/customers also being infected. Rainbow Nari O Shishu Kallyan
Foundation carried out a recent field investigation, the research confirmed
that adolescent girls’ prostitution is widespread in
Bangladesh,
although hidden at first sight from foreigners, especially in
Dhaka
city. Adolescent girls involved in prostitution are to be found in residence
homes converted into brothels or in hotels. The majority are aged 15-18.
Sharing injecting
equipment is other most effective ways of spreading an HIV/AIDS epidemic.
Studies in several regions in
Bangladesh have shown
that there is no shortage of risky behaviour among injection drug users (IDUs).
This is due to the fact that injection drug use is usually illegal and a
socially difficult issue, but also to the widespread perception that
HIV/AIDS epidemics among drug users are “impartial”.
In addition to
transmission through the sharing of injection equipment, injecting drug
users can also transmit HIV/AIDS to their sexual partners. Indeed,
Association for Social Advancement & Rural Rehabilitation (ASARR) research
had shown sexual links between drug users and other communities. In the
first place, male and female injection drug users (IDUs) sometimes sell sex,
and some male IDUs are regular clients of commercial female sex workers. If
these individuals are infected with HIV/AIDS while sharing needles with
other IDUs, there is every chance that they will go on to infect sex workers
who in turn may infect clients who have nothing to do with the world of
Injection Drugs.
AIDS in
Bangladesh therefore
depends on the conditions in the commercial sex business, including the
frequency of the incidents of men visiting female sex workers. Providing
clean needles is also considered important because it decreases the spread
of HIV from injection drug users (IDUs). It is also important to bring a
behavioural change among commercial sex workers (CSWs) by promoting the use
of condom.
Despite the growing
public awareness of the existence of the HIV crisis, the actual knowledge of
the problem is superficial, particularly vulnerable groups. Their
understanding of the modes of transmission and prevention methods is
incomplete and often misconstrued. This low level of understanding handicaps
positive behavioral changes to prevent infection.
References:
1. WHO report, HIV/AIDS in
Asia
and the Pacific Region, 2005.
2. “From Involvement to Empowerment”, UNDP, 2004
3. ASARR report, 2006
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