While carrying out her duty one night, Joy, 19, overheard the discussions of four young girls that visited the club about how coded runs secretly yield money for young girls without anyone mistaking their activities for prostitution. Discrimination continuesAccording to data from the World Health Organisation, sex workers face an increased burden of sexually transmitted infections and blood-borne infections. In 2019, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS estimated a mean HIV prevalence of 36 per cent among sex workers. The global health organisation lamented that sex workers face high levels of stigma and criminalization almost everywhere. “We are seeing a growing problem of drug-resistant HIV in Nigeria, and this is likely being fueled in part by the increasing practice of unprotected sex with commercial sex workers.”

Source: Punch December 03, 2023 20:55 UTC