Ridding Delhi`s brothels of HIV
ALTHOUGH the threat of AIDS haunts Delhi's brothels, neither the government nor any voluntary organisation has determined the prevalence of the disease among the Capital's sex workers.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), HIV infections among sex workers in Bombay increased from 1 per cent in 1986 to 35 per cent today. Even more alarming is that in Vellore, Tamil Nadu, the infections rose from 0.5 per cent to a 34.5 per cent between 1986 and 1990. However, in Delhi there has been no analysis to determine the spread of AIDS.
"There can be no doubt that AIDS is present here, too," says Munni, a housewife working with the Bharat Patita Uddhar Sabha (BPUS). The BPUS is an organisation of sex workers, formed by garage-owner Khairati Lal Bhola to combat the AIDS threat in Delhi's major red-light area. However, its work is hampered by the lack of a clear policy on sex workers, hostility from owners and pimps and apprehensions of the sex workers themselves and inadequate funding.
There have been other attempts to caution Delhi's sex workers about AIDS. In mid-1993, WHO ran an AIDS awareness campaign in G B Road, the Capital's main red-light area. Posters were put up, condoms were distributed and some university students staged plays in the area. But such campaigns are short-lived and are soon forgotten.
Keeping in mind the need for a sustained effort to check the spread of the disease, BPUS began functioning a decade ago, with its offices in G B Road. Over the years, it has spread its activities to Agra and Jaipur, which have a large concentration of brothels.
In 1988, BPUS persuaded more than 900 sex workers to get themselves checked for AIDS. According to Bhola, three HIV-positive cases were detected in February 1990.
BPUS also arranges for the children of sex workers to go to school. Says Bhola, "The children are the innocent victims of the trade. We have tried to give them a chance to lead a better life."
Ration cards Munni has been very active in the AIDS awareness campaign run by the BPUS at G B Road. She and Bhola help in procuring ration cards for sex workers who have passed the "age of being useful" or have more children than they can afford. Munni has also been instrumental in creating awareness about AIDS. "I have had to go from room to room in the brothels and explain the implications of contracting the disease," she says. It took her about a year to get her message across fully.
BPUS followed a top-down approach in spreading were opposed to the free distribution because they used to sell condoms at several times the market price. "Now we have arranged for the administration to give each girl 10 free condoms everyday," Munni adds.
Resource crunch
BPUS' successes have been attained despite the severe resource crunch it faces. "We have to make do with very little money," Munni says. "The government does nothing to help us out."
Bhola alleges the money the government got from the World Bank to fight the disease has not been properly distributed. "The real need is in places like Maharashtra, Delhi, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. But other places get the money which they don't need. All that the government has done for the prevention of AIDS is distribute condoms." Here also, Bhola says the effort was awry: the condoms were of such poor quality that they tore.
Bhola asserts there are no new AIDS cases in G B Road. Though the claim is disputable, BPUS' awareness campaign has been commendable.