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 Sexual contact between prostitutes and married men is responsible for most of the new HIV infections in India, according to a recent study commissioned by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. In four of the six hardest-hit states, these men were predominantly in business, the service sector or hotel employees.
The study stated “sex workers’ clients, ‘particularly married males, act as the bridge group aiding the spread of AIDS into the general population.’”
World Vision’s HIV/AIDS Care project in Chennai (formerly Madras) helps address the needs of commercial sex workers, offering counseling, treatment for opportunistic infections and vocational skills training to help sex workers find new means of earning a living. The project also addresses the needs of widows, infected by their husbands. World Vision’s efforts particularly focus on women and children not only because they often are unwittingly infected, but also because they often are the most vulnerable members of society.
“Poverty, AIDS, oppression, all seem to prey most easily on children and women, “ said Jayakumar Christian, who, on January 1, will begin serving as World Vision’s national director in India. “According to our Christian mandate, we must address the issues that affect these vulnerable people.”
An estimated 4.5 million Indians are HIV-positive; only South Africa’s population has more infected individuals.
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