SOCIETY

Kolkata sex workers take out HIV/AIDS awareness march

     Kolkata: Awareness about HIV/AIDS disease is gaining ground among the masses in the country. And, exemplifying this positive change was a procession taken out by thousands of sex workers in Kolkata on the eve of the World AIDS Day. Sex workers, pimps, brothel owners marched through the streets, in an effort to create awareness about the fatal disease among their colleagues and the public. The Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee (Irrepressible Women's Coordination Committee), an association of Kolkata's sex workers, organised the march in which participants carried torches and candles, and advocated the regular use of condoms to control the spread of AIDS. "Just as everyone say we have a responsibility, even we agree that as sex workers, we have to put extra effort as we get clients...We observe AIDS Day every year, and we want everyone to come together and create an awareness about AIDS, so we do it every year," said Bharati Dey, a sex worker, participating in the procession. States like Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh are home to 75 percent of the people afflicted by HIV/AIDS in India, and they have been the focus of the country's anti-AIDS campaigns.
-Dec 1, 2006

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