Guwahati, December 02: 40-year-old Aktara is a former sex worker. However, the flesh trade still sustains her as she supplies girls and arranges customers. The trade has not just given her money but has also infected her with the HIV virus.
Former sex worker and HIV positive Aktara, “I did not join the profession on my own will. It was only after my marriage. My husband filed for divorcee. My child was one year and half year old and to look after my, child I became a sex worker. I tried other jobs but there was no luck.”
To keep her earnings going Aktara did not tell her husband about her HIV positive status but she could not keep it a secret.
Assam Network of Positive People President Jahnavi Goswami said, “Everyday, she is having a lot of problem which her husband did not know. The husband did not know that she was HIV positive. And to save her husband, she was using condoms.”
Since her very survival depends on the trade women like Aktara continue to pose a threat even after they know their condition.
Chairman of AIDS Prevention Society in Guwahati Dr SI Ahmed said, “Even after knowing her HIV status and imparting with all skills to prevent the spread of HIV virus so that they can protect themselves, people like her do not bother at all.”
Guwahati does not have a red-light area, so the prostitution is done all over the city. From the beauty parlours, the hotels and even homes.
And that means so many more Aktaras who are perhaps not even detected.
Deputy Director of Assam Aids Control Society Dr SC Barman said, “Many of the sex wokers’ husbands have died. They are widows. Because of poor conditions, they sell sex and spread the disease. We are trying to make them aware.”
Awareness is just one way of preventing the thousands of women like Aktara from getting HIV and AIDS.
–Agencies