Paulina Quintao – Timorese visiting sex workers are neglecting to use condoms to protect themselves from HIV/AIDS.
National Commission to Combat HIV/AIDS – Timor-Leste (CNCS-TL) secretary Daniel Marcal said the HIV situation in Timor-Leste was serious, with many infected people living in the community.
The virus had the potential to spread further due to the proliferation of prostitution across the country, he said.
"Last week, I spoke to a sex worker who told me she knew she had the virus and told her clients to use a condom but most of them – excluding the foreigners – didn't," he said during his presentation at the recent Parliament and Equality seminar held at Hotel Timor by the government.
He called for relevant institutions to take action. Stopping prostitution altogether was difficult as women used it as a means to provide basic necessities for their families.
Timor-Leste's porous border areas were at greatest risk of a HIV outbreak, Marcal said. Sex workers from defunct Indonesian brothels were making their way into Timor-Leste, he said.
Health Ministry data shows that 447 people were diagnosed with HIV between 2003 and mid-2014. Of those, 41 had died.Commission F (health, education, culture, veterans' afffairs and gender equality) member Ilda Maria da Conceicao said the virus threatened the next generation.
"The new generation of Timor-Leste will be destroyed by this virus if they do not take action," she said. She said religious objections to condom use were a major factor in the rates of unprotected sex. She called for groups to rethink their objection to condom use.
Dr Ana Isabel F.S. Soares said research in developing nations showed condoms were not 100 per cent effective in preventing the spread of HIV.
She asked institutions to pass on information about the disease to societies. "I just want to say that condom is not 100 per cent guaranteed (to prevent the spread of HIV). In order to get rid of this virus, the important thing is for us to change our behavior," she said.
Source: http://www.thediliweekly.com/en/news/news/12996-hiv-message-not-getting-through