AIDS in Kerala Over 70,000 keralites HIV positive, Gulf Returnees pose danger?
Dubai: Over 70,000 people in Kerala are tested HIV positive, state health minister P Sankaran said. According to the minister there were 856 full-blown AIDS cases in the state. To help people cope with the infection, the Kerala State Aids Control Society has decided to set up nine Voluntary Counselling and Testing Centres (VCTC). The first centre is inaugurated at the public health laboratory other such centres would be set up in six Medical colleges and in two public health laboratories. However, it is not known whether the HIV positive cases include some Gulf returnees as it is doubted that at least some of the Malayali workers who live away from their family for five to ten years must have contracted AIDS from the gulf where the flesh trade is florishing.
According to Sankaran only a small fraction of those who are HIV positive know about their infection status. However, voluntary counselling and testing had helped the victims to care for themselves and reduce transmission to others. While the services of two counsellors and a laboratory technician had been made available to the centre, the equipment for tests such as elisa reader and washer would be supplied by the society, he said. The government also proposed to set up VCTCS in all districts in a phased manner. According to doctors, some of the commercial sex workers from Kerala who work in the Gulf countries are potential causes of HIV and AIDS spread in the state.At least a section of the large number of Indian housemaids who have returned from the Gulf countries may also cause the spread of disease. While the statistics from theGulf region about AIDS cases is still not authentic, informal sources reveal that some of the leading Gulf hospitals are treating AIDS patients. Large number of Indian nurses who are employed in the Gulf may also cause the spread of disease to Kerala. It may be noted that many recruiting agents who bring housemaids to the Gulf region force them to take anti-pregnancy capsules before they start working with any Arab families. In some cases, the girls are given contraceptive pills without their knowledge. It is learned from reliable sources that taking contraceptive pills regularly is a routine affair for housemaids working in the Gulf. Because of this, they may not be following other safety measures like using condoms.
Another potential danger is from the growing sex trafficking from Kerala to the various Gulf countries. Some of the well organised sex trafficking syndicates are known to be conducting special HIV tests regularly among the commercial sex workers, and there are instances where some of them were found HIV positive and deported back to Kerala. Among all the Gulf cities, Dubai has a flourishing flesh trade in which large number of Russian, Arab, Asian and European prostitutes are working. Expatriates, especially ordinary workers who stay away from their family for several years, frequent the cheaper brothels. Many of the prostitutes who are working for the sex syndicates take them from one country to another in the Gulf region.
Expatriate man, wife punished for Prostitution in Saudi Arabia
Riyadh: An Islamic court in Saudi Arabia has sentenced a Filipino man and wife to three months in jail and 90 lashes each for prostitution, a newspaper reported Saturday.Police arrested the couple, identified only as Robin and Nora, a nurse and female fashion designer, after receiving a tip-off from the Saudi owner of the building where they were living, Arab News said. They will be deported from the kingdom, home to Islam's holiest sites, after serving their jail terms in the northern Jouf region, it added.
