Sex workers, governments and UN join hands to boost AIDS response in Asia-Pacific region
PATTAYA, Thailand, 15 October 2010- At the first-ever Asia-Pacific consultation on HIV and sex work, sex workers, government officials and United Nations participants emphasized the need for urgent action to increase focus and positioning of sex work within HIV responses in the region.
Close to 150 delegates from eight countries (China, Cambodia, Fiji, Indonesia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea and Thailand) met in Pattaya, Thailand, to form partnerships and review policies and laws that keep sex workers from accessing HIV services and sexual and reproductive health services.
“Sex work interventions must be central to scaling up the HIV response, and listening to sex workers is crucial,” said Jan Beagle, Deputy Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) who spoke at the consultation. “Sex workers experience firsthand the effects of laws and harmful enforcement practices that violate their human rights and hamper progress on HIV,” he said.
As part of the consultation–co-organized by the Asia-Pacific Regional Offices of UNAIDS and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), as well as the Asia-Pacific Network of Sex Workers (APNSW), and hosted by the Royal Government of Thailand–country delegations shared experiences and strategies and worked on national action plans, to be carried forward by the country-level partnerships.
Welcoming participants, Deputy Permanent Secretary from Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health, Dr. Siriwat Tiptaradol, said: “This consultation marks significant progress in partnership among government, non-government, civil society and international partners. I expect that our efforts will not only strengthen the recognition that “sex work is work,” but will also result in actions to make sex work safer.”
Sex work is a central driver of the AIDS epidemic in the region. It is estimated that 10 million Asian women sell sex to 75 million men, who have intimate relations with a further 50 million people (Report of the Asia Commission on AIDS, 2008). HIV prevalence among sex workers reaches up to 20 per cent in some countries (UNGASS Country Progress reports 2006, 2008 & 2010).
Yet, HIV prevention coverage is estimated to reach only one third of all sex workers in the region. Funding for interventions on sex work and HIV is falling, despite evidence of their cost-effective impact.
UPDATE:
Read the NSWP "Report Back on the Consultation on HIV/AIDS and Sex Work in Asia and the Pacific"
Read the "Pattaya Draft Declaration"