Source:Observer
Most urban areas have sex workers and Bugembe town council in Jinja is no different. But as Trevor Solomon Baleke has found out, majority of sex workers are struggling to successfully get the gospel of safe sex across to clients.
Rose is a sex worker of some renown in Bugembe. She says that although she freely tells her customers that she is HIV-positive, most of them don’t believe her and shun condom use.
“When I tell them that I’m HIV-positive, they say I am deceiving and they demand for live sex. When you give in, they eventually pay highly and even give you more money as appreciation,” says Rose, who has lived on anti-retroviral drugs for the last 12 years.
She admits that many of her clients think she is healthy – given her curvaceous bode.
“I have plenty of customers; mostly truck drivers. I usually ask that they use condoms for protection but they refuse. Some say they don’t enjoy it when they use condoms while others say condoms are not 100% safe.”
According to her, out of every 10 clients, only one or two will accept to use a condom. Sarah is another sex worker, who says she was forced into prostitution after her husband’s failure to meet their domestic financial needs. Unlike Rose, she is unsure of her HIV status.
“I do not even need to know my HIV status, all I must know is the ability of the client to pay for my service. A customer is the king. When one of them puts HIV test as a condition, I will definitely go for it, if I find out that he is financially loaded and ready to give me any amount of money that I want,” she says candidly. She only identified herself as Pretty. She said she has failed sometimes to persuade men to use a condom.
“I have condoms in my room and I move with them whenever I am coming to work but men just don’t want to put them on. They claim it’s not as enjoyable and if you insist, they may leave you and look for another worker ready to give them live,” Pretty says.
Martha, a mother of two, says she is engaged in prostitution for a while until she finds a man ready to marry her.
“I began prostitution when I was married and when the father to my kids blamed me, I decided to pack out and rented my own room with better expectations but things are not working out. Prostitution is too risky,” Martha says.
These women are at the heart of a teeming business area, rife with truck drivers travelling between Mombasa and Rwanda, DR Congo and South Sudan. The drivers love the area because of its good security, cheaper accommodation and the women. Far away from the prying eyes of their wives and children, these men turn to the sex workers and don’t think beyond the moment, when they are asked to use a condom. Muhammad, a truck driver, explains that they find the temptation to cheat impossible to avoid.
“Sometimes the urge for physical intimacy is overwhelming, causing us to do what we don’t want to do,” he says. Asked whether he thinks about the consequences, he hesitates before pulling on a cigarette and grunting. “Kama mbaya mbaya”, a Kiswahili phrase that loosely means, “if hard luck hits, it hits.”
Alarming HIV infection levels
Yet what is beyond dispute is that most of these men and women are actually contributing heavily to the surging HIV infection levels. According to Bugembe Town Council Health Centre IV officials, the HIV prevalence here is significantly higher than in other parts of the district at 8.7%. The latest Aids indicator survey by the ministry of Health in 2011 shows the national HIV prevalence at 7.3%.
First Lady vows to fight
Observers believe those figures will increase further unless something is done about infection rates. At a recent function, to launch a solution to support prevention of mother-to-child infections in Ntungamo, first lady Janet Museveni railed against men who recklessly infect their partners.
“Why are we just looking on, seemingly relaxed, as men head to bars and drink and bring HIV back to their homes?” she asked. “If we are protecting animals in the national park, how can we fail to protect our fellow people?”
Janet Museveni said the fight against HIV should start with men preventing infections at all costs. “We know how to protect ourselves but somehow I wonder why a nation of disciplined people is waiting for circumcision and ARVs to fight Aids,” she said. “Let us fight back and not watch as the pandemic extends its reach among our people,” she added.
Option B+
She explained that the solution she was launching was a last resort. “This is for those who find that they failed to close the door when HIV knocked. We want to have HIV-free children.”
The treatment will see a pregnant mother taking drugs at 16 weeks into her pregnancy. Upon delivery, the baby will get a dose of syrup for one week, to ensure that they remain HIV-negative. The US government, through Usaid and Elizabeth Glaser Paediatric Aids Foundation will support this initiative with a $40m grant, starting this year.
From a distance, it looks like a last chance for Rose and friends to have HIV-free children, after their escapades in Bugembe. However, it is still unclear if Muhammad’s other partners will benefit from this kind of help.