THE JAMAICA AIDS Support for Life (JASL) says it supports recent calls by Lascelles Chin, chairman of the Lasco Group of Companies, for Jamaicans to be broadminded and accept commercial sex workers, as one way to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Citing Thailand as an example of a nation where the profession is accepted, though not legalised, Mr. Chin said that country has been able to achieve 100 per cent condom use among its sex workers.
He told journalists recently that the society should stop sweeping things under the carpet because sex was a big income earner.
VOLUNTARY COUNSELLING
Many of these persons, the JASL said, do not come forward for voluntary counselling and testing because of the stigmatisation attached to the profession.
According to Andrea McLean, executive director of JASL, the issue of sex workers must form part of a coordinated and effective response to national development.
"If we do not sufficiently address the spread of HIV/AIDS, it will impact negatively on the already strapped national budget," Ms. McLean said.
"There is a definite need for all of us, including the political directorate, to become intimately involved by addressing all the issues related to HIV/AIDS to reduce the spread of the disease, which is even prevalent among a significant number of our children between the age group 10-14," added the executive director.
