The World Health Organisation recommends the introduction of a 100% Condom Use Programme in the sex industry as “a practical, low-cost and effective approach which can prevent HIV infections on a major scale.”

In South Africa, there is no co-ordinated national policy specifically targeting the sex industry to prevent the spread of HIV infection.

“A pilot project targeting commercial sex-workers, the High Transmission Areas Project, was initiated by the Department of Health three years ago. But the project has yet to be rolled out nationally,” says Jill Sloan of SWEAT.

Requests for further information about this project were not responded to by the Department of Health at time of going to press.

But focussing HIV/AIDS and STD prevention efforts on the sex industry is easier in countries like Thailand and Cambodia than it is in South Africa, says Graham Neilsen, Regional Technical Advisor on STD’€™s at the Chief Directorate of HIV/AIDS and STD’€™s.

The Cambodian sex-industry is structured, says Neilsen. It is brothel and bar-based. In South Africa, by comparison, commercial sex is not structured into an industry except in the larger cities. For the most part, sex is exchanged for money in an implicit and informal way.

“Women get their children’€™s school-fees paid, or school-girls use the money to buy their books and uniforms,” says Neilsen.

Where sex establishments do exist, says Neilsen, they are generally in “a heavily criminal environment” which makes access to commercial sex workers dangerous.

“The argument for targeting commercial sex workers also becomes less strong as the epidemic becomes more wide-spread. We can’€™t put huge resources into targeted interventions for commercial sex workers when most women are at risk simply because they are married,” says Neilsen. ‘€“ Health-e news service