News
7,000 prostitutes in Nairobi every night
Posted Wednesday, April 29 2009 at 20:43
An ongoing census on the number of female and male prostitutes in the country indicates there are more than 7,000 of them in Nairobi’s Central Business District every night. Through the recently launched Wacha Mpango wa Kando programme, the Ministry of Public Health is identifying prostitution hotspots and providing them with services and products to curb HIV.
Through the National Aids and STDs Control Programme, universities of Nairobi and Manitoba in Canada, the ministry has opened a clinic in River Road where prostitutes are screened, treated and counselled at no cost. So far, the River Road clinic has screened about 6,000 prostitutes for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections and about 30 per cent tested HIV positive.
“We found HIV prevalence levels among prostitutes to be at 34 per cent, almost four times the national average of 7.1 per cent,” says Nascop head Dr Nicholas Muraguri. An interesting finding was that among the prostitutes visiting the clinic, 60 per cent either have a steady boyfriend or a husband who are not aware of their partner’s activities.
In such cases, the couple is highly unlikely to use a condom. Earlier, Public Health minister Beth Mugo said more clinics will be opened at prostitution hotspots on highways.
Mostly at night
Dr Muraguri said the clinics will operate mostly at night in the hope that the prostitutes will find this to be convenient. Male prostitution also appears to be on the rise as shown by a two-year study in Kisumu that said out of the 485 men who had sex with other men, 80 per cent were married or in a serious relationship. The study, in collaboration with Liverpool VCT, found that 75 per cent of men prostitutes did so to provide for their families.
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Submitted by kenyamoja99Posted May 02, 2009 10:32 AM
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Submitted by mwasame
How do we expect our fellow sisters to fend for themselves in this time of economic crunch....The G10 sex strike now ensures there is a steady flow of cash in this sector maybe for a week as men cease fire at home.....Mr taxman should swiftly move in and pick his share his share
Posted May 01, 2009 03:52 PM -
Submitted by werssylwer
People to blame for increased prostitution in kenya are the famed old " Young Turks" who supported the world bank and IMF against Moi to liberalise our Agriculture and Oil sectors and do away with price controls, another axis of evil is Raila and Ruto for formenting mass murder after elections that swept away all the economic gains we made in the first five years of Kibaki adminstration. Dont blame the girls on the street too much...there is enough blame to go around.
Posted May 01, 2009 07:56 AM -
Submitted by Moorni
Kasipul,Oyugis, Winamstate. The situation doesn’t look so bad to me at all for here is where all loot stolen from the community welfare projects are being recycled everyday government projects have been run down with men and women who are very thirsty of consuming the
Posted May 01, 2009 03:28 AM -
Submitted by DJSCARLETTE
The issue on morality is plain stupid. People will do what they can to feed their families esp when the govt is so greedy like the one we have..This is a trade that has flourished.why not fully legalize it, tax them, and put measures in place to ensure safety like the one in place offering free testing???
Posted May 01, 2009 01:28 AM
RSS
In most proactive western countries the women are ALWAYS considered victims. It is the clients who get arrested and this has gone a long way in curbing prostitution at least on the streets. We should also approach the issue this way. The opposite is done with drug abuse, the users usually need help and are considered victims, but the traffickers and peddlers should be dealt with severely. Over to you overpaid law-makers!!