South Sudanese sex workers are choosing to have unprotected sex and pop post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) antiretroviral drugs instead.
“We don’t have money, so when we meet a client who offers more money than we usually get to have sex without protection, then we will do it – even when we don’t know his HIV status,” says Jane, a sex worker in South Sudan.
The national rate of HIV infection stands at 2.6 percent according to South Sudan’s AIDS Commission, while the national army (SPLA) has a five percent rate of infection.
The war on HIV/AIDS should not be abandoned because of the South Sudanese conflict, especially when antiretroviral drugs are being obtained illegally in clinics.
Source: Key Correspondents, Voice of America
