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When I took part in the 3rd National AIDS conference of Nepal, I came to learn lots of things; if I hadn’t participated then I would have missed a lot.
I was stunned to know that a transgender had sex more than 3500 times in a year because he is lowly paid.
The people who lure girls by paying for their lunch and dinner, sometimes transfer the balance to their mobiles for in exchange of sex and to show that they love these girls!
I came in to contact with an LGBTI group and learnt about their feelings. I was sad to know that they have been ostracized from their homes and relatives because their main occupation is cheap sex. Their stories, which are dominated by rejections, really heart and are touchy.
In Achham District in mid-western region where all the people - children, men and women - of a village development committee are infected with HIV. The socio-economic status of that place is being degrading. However, it is now improving, though slowly thanks to all the NGOs, INGOs and local community organizations working there.
I was fortunate to meet with the women of this district, though their language is a little difficult to understand, and asked them about their lives and the community's perception towards them.
It was sad to learn that they have been stigmatized, discriminated and suppressed, especially if they are widows, whose husbands died of AIDS-related ailment. One woman narrated to me how this state of affairs had been so denigrating to her livelihood since her husband died ten years ago of AIDS.
The main reason for this massive mishap is the migration of men from the villages to the Indian places and having unsafe sex with the sex workers. Another thing is the unsafe delivery of babies from infected mother.
The voices of sex workers, I think, was where for the first time in the history of Nepal, sex workers got a platform platform to express their feelings and experiences of being a sex worker, the challenges such as mistreatment by the police and having their places of work burnt or destroyed. These women are mostly involved in sex work business due to poverty and their low income status.
There are some places in Nepal where very young girls are involved in sex work e.g. in Jhapa (a district of eastern region), a study shows that sex workers here range from 10 years to 54 years old females, nevertheless the women who are in some employment are also engaged in sex work. The preferred times are Fridays afternoons as offices (especially government ones) close as early as two in the afternoon.
The main issues that were identified for the transmission of HIV and AIDS are poverty, lack of education, unemployment, stigma, discrimination and others.
HIV and AIDS is being overwhelmingly transmitted in South Asia especially India and other countries. Sex workers of Thailand are well informed about HIV/AIDS transmission and prevention and there is a red zone area where the sex workers can do their work freely and safely.
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Yashoda
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