Sex workers want voice in AIDS prevention

Sex workers want voice in AIDS prevention

Patricia Reaney, Reuters/Bangkok

Sex workers, tired of being blamed for spreading Acquired Immune
Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), said on Thursday they can help fight
the deadly disease but are being shunned by governments and
agencies.

"We are sex experts. We teach a lot of people, men and women
all over the world, how to have sex. If we teach people how to
have sex, why don't we teach people how to have safe sex?" Paulo
Longo said at an international AIDS meeting in the Thai capital.

The retired Brazilian sex worker, now a psychologist, said
stigma and discrimination had prevented workers in the world's
oldest profession from playing a bigger role in the fight to halt
the spread of the sexually transmitted virus.

"They say we are not educated enough, that we are too
demanding, that we use drugs all the time so we don't
concentrate," said Longo.

But given the chance, he and others like him say they could
make a difference.

"There is evidence that involving sex workers helps a lot," he
said. "We can help to minimize the impact of the epidemic."

UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS, agrees
sex workers should be more involved and equal partners in the
consultative process of how to fight the epidemic.

"UNAIDS is trying to ensure their voice is heard," said
Aurorita Mendoza of UNAIDS. "We are acting as facilitators for
sex workers with organizers of national programs."

The 15th International AIDS Conference has highlighted the
impact of AIDS on women and the importance of condoms in
preventing the spread of the virus.

For some women, their only risk factor was being a faithful
wife. In the worst affected countries in Africa and Asia, many
women cannot insist that their husband use a condom.

But Carol Jenkins, a medical anthropologist based in Thailand
and an adviser on HIV/AIDS, said studies showed that protecting
sex workers from HIV protects the whole society.

"You have a constituency out there that is very affected by a
serious epidemic that is going to ruin your economy. Why aren't
you listening to this constituency?" she said.

Janelle Fawkes, president of the Scarlet Alliance, an
association of sex workers in Australia, said governments were
scared to be connected to sex worker programs.

"Sex workers are the professionals in promoting safe sex in
their workplace," said Fawkes, who demonstrated techniques she
uses to convince clients to have safe sex.

"What has been successful is when sex workers get together
themselves and are empowered to pass on messages and share skills
and strategies to get clients to use condoms and make it part of
the service in a way that is exciting."

Sex workers also argue that the 100 percent condom policy
doesn't work because it increases the stigma and violence against
them and introduces police and brothel owners as regulators of
condom use.

They are not against using condoms, but say mandating it and
registering sex workers and forcing them to have health tests
violates their right to privacy and free choice.

"In Australia, where sex workers are self-regulating their own
sexual health, they have lower rates of sexually transmitted
infections than the general community," said Fawkes.

"That's the way we should be going, that's the way that has
been successful."