I have often wondered why some men patronize the work of commercial sex workers (prostitutes) particularly in this era of threatening sexually transmitted diseases. One would have thought that the drumming over the years on the dangers of the HIV\/AIDS pandemic alone were good enough a message to advise those who practice or patronize the commercial sex trade.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, more men seem to be experimenting and substituting the so called pleasures of sleeping with a prostitute at the peril of their lives. In the same vein, more women seem to be drifting to the dangerous trade of prostitution due to the \u201cattractive\u201d and instant monetary gains. They are oblivion to the fact that it is a trade that could also cut their lives short and unfortunately leave premature orphans behind – those same children they claim they are working to take care of.<\/p>\n
A Daily Graphic front page story captioned \u201cQuarter of sex workers HIV positive\u201d which appeared in its issue of November 28 2011 was not only shocking but also mind boggling to just brush aside. The headline needs to be brought to the fore for more public discourse because it is a societal menace.<\/p>\n
According to the story, twenty-five per cent of female sex workers in the country are HIV positive. This revelation is contained in the latest survey carried out by the Ghana AIDS Commission.<\/p>\n
At a media briefing held in Kumasi in connection with this year\u2019s celebration of the World AIDS Day held at Obuasi on December 1, the Director General of the Ghana AIDS Commission, Dr Angela EL-Adas said, \u201cif you match the national prevalence rate of 1.6% to that of the commercial sex workers, you can see that there is a real problem at hand.\u201d The Commission, according to the story, has consequently cautioned men against patronizing the activities of prostitutes as they face a higher risk of infection<\/p>\n
Prostitution in view of the grave danger it poses to the young women who take to it, their families and the society, must be of grave concern to us as a nation and the Ghana Aids Commission in particular as they strategise to bring down the prevalence rate of HIV infection in Ghana. These women are in the trade because they see it as a short cut to make money, plus no tax man is chasing them with tickets to pay taxes on their incomes as compared to their counterparts who sit in the sun for hours each day selling and whose taxes are not providing them with decent shelter from the sun.<\/p>\n
If the short cut to money is what is fuelling prostitution, then, those who are keeping them in this dangerous business, the end users who fail to see that they could be the end losers need to be the serious target of the Ghana Aids Commission in their education campaigns going forward. One is likely to dismiss their case thinking that they do not need anyone to prompt them if they do not know that by patronizing prostitution, they are in danger of contracting sexually transmitted diseases including HIV\/AIDS. No. They are a menace to society and therefore any such campaign should focus on the multiple dangers such men are bringing into the society.<\/p>\n
Going by the statistics alone it is very possible that some of the men who go in to enjoy life night after night with prostitutes are going home with the HIV virus. The multiple implications could be tragic for a country that has worked so hard to bring its HIV prevalence down.<\/p>\n
Why do people want to experiment not only with their own lives but with the lives of other people as well? Has anyone thought through the dangers such men sleeping with prostitutes pose to society? There is multiples of it.<\/p>\n
The man who goes to sleep with the prostitute for whatever it is he is looking for stands a greater chance of endangering the lives of other innocent women out there. Plus these days of same sex partnerships, other men out there are also at risk. It becomes a vicious cycle really.<\/p>\n
Such a man definitely would not live the rest of his life paying money to have sex with a prostitute. It is generally believed that some of the men patronizing the commercial sex trade are either married or are in some kind of a relationship with another woman. If not, they would get married one day or fall in love with and probably go ahead and live with a lover who, for all one knows, may think he or she has met the best bachelor in town.<\/p>\n
Of course, nobody would want to spoil the work of commercial sex workers, a profession as old as the ancient of days. However, if their work is becoming a danger to society, then the time has come for us to sound the alarm bells of caution to those who are already engaging their services and those who may be thinking of patronizing their services. HIV\/AIDS has prematurely claimed the lives of many and left many more children as orphans. The focus of all the education surrounding HIV\/AIDS is to kill it and not to encourage its spread.<\/p>\n
That is why if the statistics that the Ghana Aids Commission is giving us is anything to go by then we seriously need to go back to the drawing board and revise our national strategy on HIV\/AIDS with particular reference to prostitution. We have been told by the Commission that their focus is to reduce HIV infections by 50 per cent in the next five years. A very ambitious target if commercial sex trade is allowed to go the rate it is heading.<\/p>\n
What we would hate to see is for our enviable national prevalence rate of 1.6% to be reversed. Currently, the figures we have of those in the sex trade already infected could pose a danger to whatever achievements we plan to make now and into the future.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s global celebration of World Aids Day has challenged us with the theme: \u201cGetting to Zero\u201d. Consistent education and continued awareness programmes have brought us this far. However, going forward, we need to tackle the danger posed by sex workers more seriously otherwise they could negate our gains. We surely must watch this looming danger, a task which should engage the attention of all of us as Ghanaians. We are still not out of the woods as far as HIV\/AIDS is concerned.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I have often wondered why some men patronize the work of commercial sex workers (prostitutes) particularly in this era of threatening sexually transmitted diseases. One would have thought that the drumming over the years on the dangers of the HIV\/AIDS pandemic alone were good enough a message to advise those who practice or patronize the commercial sex trade. Unfortunately, more men seem to be experimenting and substituting the so called pleasures of sleeping with a prostitute at the peril of their lives. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\n