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Sex Workers of Pakistan Face Brunt of AIDS
Shumaila a prostitute of Karachi's Napier Road red-light district, had never heard about HIV and AIDS until recently. She now has been educated to carry condoms, but finds very few users.
"None of us were aware about the danger of AIDS looming over us for years, but now we all know and can avoid it," said the tall 29-year-old who lives in a Victorian-style building in the heart of the neighbourhood.
Shumaila's awareness, rare among Pakistan sex workers, is thanks to the Gender and Reproductive Health Forum, a local charity that runs a UN-funded programme in Napier Road teaching prostitutes about the perils of HIV/AIDS.
"So far we have provided hundreds of thousands of condoms to sex workers in the last two years, which have saved them from being infected with the lethal virus," said Mirza Aleem Baig, who runs the forum.
Karachi, Pakistan's largest metropolis and one of the biggest Muslim cities in the world, has up to 100,000 female sex workers, according to data gathered by Pakistan Society, a local welfare organisation.
"This is 20 percent of their overall population in Pakistan. Lahore comes next with 75,000 sex workers," Saleem Azam, head of the charity, told AFP.
Prostitution may be illegal, but it has prospered in an increasingly Islamised Pakistan, where an economic downturn and widening poverty have forced women and men, onto the streets to meet the rising cost of living.
"None of us were aware about the danger of AIDS looming over us for years, but now we all know and can avoid it," said the tall 29-year-old who lives in a Victorian-style building in the heart of the neighbourhood.
Shumaila's awareness, rare among Pakistan sex workers, is thanks to the Gender and Reproductive Health Forum, a local charity that runs a UN-funded programme in Napier Road teaching prostitutes about the perils of HIV/AIDS.
"So far we have provided hundreds of thousands of condoms to sex workers in the last two years, which have saved them from being infected with the lethal virus," said Mirza Aleem Baig, who runs the forum.
Karachi, Pakistan's largest metropolis and one of the biggest Muslim cities in the world, has up to 100,000 female sex workers, according to data gathered by Pakistan Society, a local welfare organisation.
"This is 20 percent of their overall population in Pakistan. Lahore comes next with 75,000 sex workers," Saleem Azam, head of the charity, told AFP.
Prostitution may be illegal, but it has prospered in an increasingly Islamised Pakistan, where an economic downturn and widening poverty have forced women and men, onto the streets to meet the rising cost of living.
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More News on: Oral Health And AIDS, AIDS/HIV, AIDS/HIV - Epidemiology, AIDS/HIV - Clinical Features, AIDS/HIV - Health Education, AIDS/HIV - Prevention And Transmission, AIDS / HIV - Treatment, AIDS - Initial Theories and Disease Progression , AIDS/HIV - Worldwide distribution and Risk of Transmission, AIDS/HIV - Common Opportunistic Infections
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01/21/2010
Haiiiiiiiiiiiiii my pakistani sisters & mothers & brothers I am from India's Kerala State . Your people, every one, are so kind hearted with a helping mind & strong, only the one thing is your 50% people thinking about religion..pls stop the unnecesary think ing & I am hindu but i beleive in christian god & muslim god 'ALLA' ALLA is great. We all are GODS childrens. I love every pakistani, mothers & sisters. My request is please stop prostitution if you have to do this work learn how to protect your body & escape from some diffrent human ghosts..your children need you ,your mother& father need you, who are around loving you and they all need you. " GREAT ALLA"needs you, so try to stop this dirty work or if you can't you must learn how to protect youself. THIS IS YOUR OWN BROTHER FROM KERALA, INDIA ...SUNIL
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