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Trading sex for food could mean a higher risk of HIV/AIDS for poor women |
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UN officials at the International AIDS conference in Mexico this week said that the current world food crisis and increasing food costs will have a negative impact on the HIV/AIDS pandemic, as poor women are driven to engage in transactional sex.
Faced with the pressure to provide for their children, poor women may feel obliged to sell their bodies to meet their family's basic needs. This has been a noted trend in fishing communities in parts of southern Africa and Papua New Guinea, where some women have left their crafts to engage in the sex industry. The possibility of transmitting HIV/AIDS increases as sex in this context is often unprotected. The WHO emphasized that this is a new trend in the food crisis that needs careful and close attention.
This current food crisis is affecting the economic and health situation of many poor women around the world.
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