Community | January 07, 2010 | 3 comments

World Cup could increase spread of HIV

source: http://edition.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/01/07/worldcup.sex.workers/index.html

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bishopobispo
(CNN) -- Advocates for sex workers in South Africa have warned that this summer's World Cup could be a public health disaster.

With up to half a million football fans expected to visit South Africa for the World Cup, and up to half of South Africa's prostitutes carrying the HIV virus, there have been calls for the country to decriminalize prostitution to help tackle the spread of HIV.

Eric Harper, director of the Cape Town-based Sex Worker Education and Advocacy Taskforce (SWEAT), told CNN that the World Cup would inevitably lead to a demand for sex workers.

"And where there's demand there will be a supply," Harper told CNN. "It could be a potential recipe for disaster both for the clients and the sex workers," he added.

Harper told CNN that while there are no accurate figures for the number of sex workers in South Africa, his organization believes there are 3,000 in Cape Town alone.

The UN estimates that in South Africa 5.7 million people are HIV positive, more than in any other country. A 2005 University of Michigan study found that 46 percent of female sex workers in Johannesburg had HIV.

Those figures, coupled with the expected influx of visitors for the World Cup, are causing concern for some South Africans.

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/01/07/worldcup.sex.workers/index.html
  1. groups:
    Community,   World Cup
  2. tags:
    Health,  Africa,  AIDS,  HIV,  1 more
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3 comments // World Cup could increase spread of HIV

  • KCofParkCity
    • 0
      KCofParkCity  

    • I can see it now - out of town football fans getting shit faced at the bars while cheep sex is readably available. Some luck fan will come back home with a souvenir he didn't want.

    • 2 years ago
  • bishopobispo
    • 0
      bishopobispo  
    • KCofParkCity:

      If you look at the numbers it looks like more than a few fans are bound to contract something. 46% percent of sex workers (in Johannesburg) having HIV?

      Legalize it. Regulate it. Make it safer.

      Prostitution will never go away.

    • 2 years ago
  • bishopobispo
    • 0
      bishopobispo  

    • Alcohol prohibition. The Criminalization of Drugs. Prostitution...

      Push an industry such as these underground and they will become more violent and unsafe. Regardless of your stance on the morality of prostitution, it'd be foolish to admit that the profession is going anywhere, anytime soon. Just legalize it, regulate it, and make it more safe for the women within the industry.

      I can't think of any better alternative.

    • 2 years ago
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