Seventy percent of migrant laborers from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan do not use condoms when they pay strangers for sex. They don’t think they need to, apparently: A third believe HIV is contracted only through intravenous drug use; a quarter believe showering after sex prevents HIV.
This risky behavior is widespread, says a recent survey led by Danish Church Aid (DCA), a non-governmental and non-denominational aid organization. As roughly one-third of Afghanistan’s narcotics transit Central Asia and millions of the region’s young people migrate to and from Russia, HIV is exploding.
Widespread denial and ignorance will not help contain the virus.
Almost three in four respondents from Kyrgyzstan have never been tested for HIV; 60 percent of Kyrgyz would not send their child to school if an HIV positive child also studied there. And 68 percent of Tajiks say they would not tell anyone if they tested positive for the virus.
Cluelessness among medical workers sets an alarming precedent. In Kyrgyzstan, half of doctors and nurses believe HIV-positive people have been singled out for divine punishment. Roughly 60 percent – we’re still talking about doctors and nurses here – “would immediately stop buying meat from the vendor if he/she would be identified as HIV-positive.”
Only ignorance may be more infectious than the virus. Almost half of men in both countries believe HIV can be cured.
David Trilling is Eurasianet’s managing editor.
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