Burmese Sex Workers Tested for HIV

By MIN LWIN

A recent survey of female sex workers in Burma confirms a high incidence of HIV, threatening a dangerous and potentially devastating epidemic.

The survey was undertaken in six locations in 2007 to examine and test female sex workers, according to the Rangoon-based weekly journal The Weekly Eleven News, which quoted statistics from the Ministry of Health on Wednesday.

The journal reported that 147 of 945 sex workers tested positive for HIV in six townships: Lashio, Mandalay, Myintkyinar, Taunggy, Rangoon and Kaungtaung.

The percentages were Lashio, 22.7 percent; Mandalay, 22.6 percent; Myintkyinar, 17.9 percent; Taunggyi, 14.4 percent; Rangoon, 9.6 percent; and Kaungtaung. 1.2 percent.

According to an HIV/AIDS Projection and Demographic Impact Analysis Workshop in September 2007, Burma had 240,000 people, including children, living with HIV/AIDS.

An estimated 339,000 people were infected with HIV at the end of 2004, according to statistics from the military government’s National AIDS Program.

The recent economic crisis and increasing economic woes has led more Burmese women to turn to the sex industry, say observers.

A volunteer who counsels people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHA) and educates volunteers in Rangoon said that the majority of female sex workers have never been tested for HIV, and they have little information about HIV and sexually transmitted infections.

“Even sex workers who knew about HIV said they can’t use condoms because their partners don’t like it,” she said.