The Jamaica AIDS Support for Life (JASL) says it is deeply concerned about the apprehension and arrest of 19 sex workers, two of whom are male, in New Kingston on the weekend by the police.

"This is, sadly, another activity by the police which once again shows that the police fail to understand the issues around sex workers and, only further the stigma already attached to them and, in so doing, unwittingly help to facilitate the spread of HIV/AIDS in Jamaica," said Novlet Dougherty Reid, executive director at the JAS.

She also noted that preventing HIV infections among those involved in the sex trade has been an instrumental part of many countries' fight against AIDS. For example, the Government of Thailand has seen remarkable declines in the rate of the virus. She further stated that the fact that HIV and AIDS are health issues also means that sex workers have a right to proper health services and attempts by the police to chase them across parishes hamper the possibility of them going for treatment.

The organisation said it was also of the view that it is important for Jamaicans to recognise that sex workers have a high number of sexual partners and stand the risk if they are HIV infected to pass it on to other segments of the population. As a result, the organisation has asked that the Government go past the punitive measures and re-examine the legal stance on how sex workers are deemed in Jamaica and adapt policies from countries such as the Netherlands, where sex workers are treated in a holistic manner.

Nine per cent positive

"Interestingly, according to the National HIV/STD Prevention and Control Programme for the period January 2006 - June 2006, of the 7,927 reported cases of persons involved in risk behaviour, 1,988 or 25 per cent of them were involved with sex workers," the organisation said.

"Additionally, it is important to note that nine per cent of female sex workers are HIV positive."

The organisation said that ultimately, sex workers must be treated with priority in Jamaica. It added that recently in Antigua, CARICOM's Pan Caribbean Partnership Against HIV/AIDS and the United Nations Population Fund facilitated a meeting to examine the state of HIV and AIDS programming for sex workers in the Caribbean with the aim to set the regional agenda regarding sex work policy and programming in relation to HIV and AIDS based on the global trends.