HIV/AIDS
Burma has the third highest HIV prevalence rate in Asia, after Cambodia and Thailand. Sex workers are particularly at risk, with 32% infected with the disease. The criminal nature of sex work in Burma, as it is prohibited by the 1949 Suppression of Prostitution Act, also contributes to the ineffectiveness of reaching out to sex workers in Burma with regard to HIV/AIDS awareness and condom usage. In Yangon, there are over 100 brothels and up to 10,000 sex workers, mostly of the Bamar ethnic group, with between 70 to 90% having a history of sexually transmitted infections and less than 25% having been tested for HIV. An anecdotal study found that nearly half of sex workers in Yangon have HIV/AIDS.
Read more about this topic: Prostitution In Burma
Famous quotes containing the word aids:
“The moral immune system of this country has been weakened and attacked, and the AIDS virus is the perfect metaphor for it. The malignant neglect of the last twelve years has led to breakdown of our country’s immune system, environmentally, culturally, politically, spiritually and physically.”
—Barbra Streisand (b. 1942)