Health Information Center, News and Events

Claire’s (in-country project manager) personal account

The CDC people were rather busy in this month with the Beijing programme. They said they had no time for programme activities in villages. So she asked the CDC people to invite some sex workers to the CENTRE in the afternoon of October 27 in order to familiarize herself with the workings of the CENTRE and to meet some of the women who used this resource.. Peer counseling is one of the functions that the CENTRE provides.

11 girls and women between 20 and 50 years old came. Various personal accounts were given concerning why these women worked as sex workers. A woman aged around 45 confided that she had tried various jobs after getting divorced, but that income far enough from supporting her two children, one studying at a university, the other at a senior high, so she chose to do sex work, which enables her to earn 7 times more than what she did before. Financial difficulties and lack of education were a common thread among the various women’s personal accounts.

The CDC has been expanding the role that the CENTRE plays in Mangshi; blood tests/screenings are a very important function that the CENTRE now carries out. Many people who suspect themselves of HIV positive hate to go to the hospital for blood test because they feel embarrassed and can sense different eyes upon. Now our CENTRE provides such people with a private place. It’s really functioning well.