AIDS red alert in Bengal's IT hub: WB health dept study

Kolkata, Aug 2 (UNI) If the country's IT capital Bangalore is very vulnerable to the spread of HIV/AIDS, Bengal's IT hub, Salt Lake's Sector-V, does not lag far behind.

The startling revelation came to the fore following the findings of a study by the state government's Health department, which had stated that ''sex workers'' have a client base of mostly BPO executives, of whom 67 per cent do not practise safe sex.

The findings of the study have prompted National AIDS Control Organisation and West Bengal State HIV-AIDS Prevention and Control Society (WBSAPCS) to launch an ''intervention project'' in Salt Lake and adjoining areas.

The study also said 67 per cent of the sex workers do not use condoms and have low awareness levels, while 69 per cent respondents have never heard of sexually transmitted diseases.

Seventy five per cent respondents are between 19 and 35 years of age, and six per cent are below 18.

The study said many of the sex workers comprise housewives and college students.

WBSAPCS Director and Special Secretary to the state Health department R S Shukla told UNI today that they have launched a project to conduct awareness campaigns with the help of a number o NGO.

''However, identification is a big problem,'' he stated.

The study was conducted recently by WBSAPCS on 100 ''flying sex workers'' in the area.

The School of Human Genetics and Population Health, an NGO, is working as an implementing agency for the project at the grassroot level among 300 such sex workers.

The NGO representatives said two health clinics would be opened to conduct awareness campaigns and medical check-ups in the offices.

Each medical unit would have two doctors and two counsellors, besides attendants, he said.

The project would cover 300 women sex workers in the area.

Apart from sex workers, the NGOs would work with police, hotel or apartment owners in Salt Lake and nearby areas and train women, beginning with 12, to be peer educators.

UNI JYN SJC PA BS1047