Uganda’s sex workers have highest HIV rate in the world

Prostitution is a criminal offence in Uganda Kampala – Arabstoday Female sex workers in Uganda have one of the highest HIV rates worldwide, a new study reveals. Some argue that decriminalising prostitution would be the best strategy to prevent unsafe practices. Meanwhile, the government and police are cracking down on brothels as regional powers consider expanding care and protection for people living with HIV and AIDS.
Nisha, a sex worker near Kampala, says prostitution enables her to support herself without an education.
“I did not go far in school, and yet I have a good life from this,” she says.
Nisha says she will not quit because of the money:  she charges her clients between 100,000 Ugandan shillings ($40) and 300,000 shillings ($110).
“Which job is going to give 200,000 shillings ($75) a night or slightly less?” she asks. “Do you expect me to go and work as a waitress for 120,000 shillings ($45), 12 hours a day, six days a week?”
Nisha plans to continue until she has enough money to buy a commercial building in Uganda’s capital, Kampala.
She acknowledges that sex work can be risky.
“You have to study the client,” Nisha says. “The ones who are dressed nicely and act all educated are usually the most dangerous ones.”
She says that in these scenarios, sex workers have little power, so they do their best to protect against HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.
“What can I do?” she asks. “It is my business! I just pray that none of them is infected and I ask them to wear a condom.”
Nisha sees a prospective client and abruptly walks away.
“God is the one who protects us!” she says as she sashays seductively toward him.
As a new study shows the high HIV-infection rate among female sex workers in Uganda, some local advocates urge the government to decriminalise sex work to increase their access to health care. But others insist that rehabilitation of sex workers is the better strategy. Officials say that the government plans to crack down on brothels, not decriminalise sex work. Meanwhile, the East African Community heads of state are considering a bill that would ensure care and protection to all citizens living with HIV and AIDS.
Uganda has one of the highest rates of HIV infections in the world among female sex workers, who account for 16 percent of infections in Uganda, according to a study published in 2012 in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, a medical journal. The four-year study, funded by the World Bank and the United Nations Population Fund, found that 37 percent of female sex workers in Uganda are HIV-positive, compared with 8.5 percent of women of reproductive age who are not sex workers.
“Considerations of the legal and policy environments in which sex workers operate and the important role of stigma, discrimination and violence targeting female sex workers globally will be required to reduce the disproportionate disease burden among these women,” wrote Dr. Stefan Baral of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, who led the study.
The Penal Code Act outlaws living on the earnings of prostitution in Uganda, penalising it with seven years in prison.
Additional reporting: UPI