World Cup Risk?

Posted by julie.allen on January 7th, 2010

CNN reported today that there are fears in South Africa that the World Cup could exacerbate the HIV epidemic – - a scary thought in a country that the UN estimates has 5.7m people already living with the virus.

Advocates for sex workers in the country are worried that the influx of tourists and football fans will lead to higher levels of prostitution, increasing the risk of new infections.

sex worker

Eric Harper, director of the Cape Town-based Sex Worker Education and Advocacy Taskforce (SWEAT), told CNN that the World Cup would inevitably lead to a demand for sex workers.

“And where there’s demand there will be a supply,” Harper told CNN. “It could be a potential recipe for disaster both for the clients and the sex workers,” he added.

2005 research by the University of Michigan found that up to 46% of the sex workers operating in Johannesburg are HIV positive.

Julian Seedat of the South African National AIDS Council also agrees that there will be an increase in prostitution but he doesn’t think it’ll lead to increased HIV infections.

“I don’t think the World Cup will necessarily bring an increased risk of the spread of HIV,” he told CNN.

“Over the years there has been an incredible amount of education and awareness work done among sex workers. Years ago the high-risk groups were thought to be homosexuals and sex workers, but there has been such a focus on education for these groups that their behavior has really changed. It’s quite the norm for a commercial sex worker to have a bag full of condoms.”

Read the full story over at CNN.

What do are your views? Do you think the World Cup will lead to increased infections? Let us know by leaving a comment below…

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5 Comments...
  1. jonathan says:
    January 7, 2010 at 5:30 pm

    this might be the case, but as with all one-off sexual encounters – whether or not you’re safe is what’s important. i hope that those visiting south africa take the right precautions.

  2. jen says:
    January 7, 2010 at 5:34 pm

    it’s a hard one – but unfortunately there will be some people out there who decide to pay for sex and fail to use protection… i just hope people educate themselves.

  3. Banders says:
    January 7, 2010 at 5:56 pm

    Wow it is scary to think how many football fans will be off getting their ends away and protection may not be at the forefront of their minds after a few stellas!

  4. deji says:
    January 27, 2010 at 9:59 am

    Well….i think the S.A Govt should make sure that they distribute a lot of CONDOMS free of charge to the entire populace so as to prevent some of them from getting infected with the virus once they have a Transaction with the Sex workers cos people will surely demand for the services of the SEX workers during the Competition.Tanx

  5. Josiah says:
    February 11, 2010 at 12:08 pm

    The world cup is supposed to be a thing of joy and not of sadness and fear, we Africans ought to think of the goodness and toghtherness it will bring and not the sadness that we are not even sure of. But if the South African Govt are scared, well i think that they should do what i like to call “back up”. Here is what i mean they should maybe provide something like a free CONDOM to everyone in South Africa (Male and Female included) at least that might regulate or slow the spread of the Virus. And also i think they should allocate some Hotels where foreign fans or other Africans would go to, and the Hotel should be strictly for foreigners any other hotel should not be allowed except otherwise……..

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