Occasionally, Aregaya said, the sex workers have been able to pool money to send some of their HIV-infected friends to die at home. In a country crippled by poverty and famine, rural girls and women migrate to cities in search of jobs.
Even those who get a waitress job or make it to high school often have sex in exchange for money or gifts to supplement their income. Save the Children , a U. But former and current program officials said their efforts have been hampered by U. President Bush announced the program in his State of the Union address, and the first prevention, care and treatment grants were distributed the following year.
The largest commitment ever of U. This approach was engineered in Africa in the s and has been credited with reducing HIV rates in countries like Uganda.
The U. According to PEPFAR guidelines, condoms are to be promoted only among high-risk groups such as sex workers, truck drivers, couples in which one of the two members is HIV-infected and youth older than 14 who are sexually active. Other programs include condom promotion, safe medical injections, prevention of HIV transmission from pregnant women to their babies, and blood safety. Even though the Djibouti corridor is considered a high-risk area for HIV transmission, with a steady sex industry and abundant truck transit, the U.
The four women on the right say they engage in commercial sex work in hotels The former Djibouti corridor program manager, Beverly Stauffer, can attest to that.
