Heena Sharma Blog

The proportion of Indian sex workers with HIV/AIDS declined over four years to 2017, more use condoms than ever before and funding to control the disease rose 21% over the period, according to an IndiaSpend analysis of national health data. But there appears to be little change in violence, stigma and discrimination against sex workers, how Indian states treat them varies, and funding and drugs are not always available when and where they should be. Over 91% of Indian sex workers used condoms in 2018, and no more than 1.6% of female sex workers had HIV (human immunodeficieny virus) and AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) in 2017, down from 2.75% in 2013, mirroring a decline reflected among the general population, according to the latest available data. Over four years to 2017, the “HIV prevalence rate”, the percentage of people tested and found infected, among men who have sex with men also dropped from 4.4% to 2.7%, said a 2018 report from UNAIDS, a United Nations or...

Hoping to protect women from sexual exploitation , Indian lawmakers are pushing a bill that amends the criminal code to harden legal and financial penalties for sex trafficking. The “Trafficking of Persons (Prevention, Protection and Rehabilitation) Bill,” which passed the lower house of India’s parliament in July 2018 and may become law in 2019, seeks to make combat this lucrative, illicit trade. Not everyone thinks harsh deterrence will work. Days after it passed in the lower house of India’s Parliament in July, two United Nations experts said the bill leans too heavily on the criminal justice system. Without more of a “human-rights based and victim-centred approach,” the UN special rapporteurs on human trafficking and modern slavery warned, India “risks further harming already vulnerable individuals.” India’s sex trade According to the Indian government, 4,980 victims of sex trafficking were rescued in the country in 2016. Sex workers in India oppose th...

The report underscored the public health benefits of decriminalising sex work Health News : India saw a major reduction in the number of new HIV infections, AIDS-related deaths and people living with HIV from 2010 to 2017 on the back of sustained and focussed efforts, according to a UN report which warned that the epidemic was growing in Pakistan. The Joint UN Agency on AIDS (UNAIDS) report titled 'Miles to go closing gaps, breaking barriers, righting injustices' said Asia and the Pacific regions have made strong inroads with its HIV response. Sustained and focused efforts to reach key populations have led to major reductions in HIV infections in Cambodia, India, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam between 2010 and 2017. The report, however, warned that the global new HIV infections were not declining fast enough. It also noted that the epidemics were expanding in Pakistan and the Philippines. In India, new HIV infections dropped from 120,000 in 2010 to 88,...