World Bank To Teach Costa Rica's
Prostitutes to Avoid AIDS
Dozens of prostitutes in
Costa Rica will learn how to protect themselves from AIDS thanks to
the advice of their colleagues within the framework of a program
financed by the World Bank and being conducted by a local
non-governmental organization.
The "La Sala" Association for the Improvement of Quality of Life of
Sexual Workers, the non governmental organization pursuing the
project, aims to train a group of prostitutes so that they can be
the ones who teach other women in the sex trade.
In remarks published Sunday in the daily La Nacion, one of the
project's coordinators, Maria Diaz, said that the goal is to
"empower sexual workers in the matter of prevention" of AIDS.
In all, the La Sala officials will train 22 prostitutes to impart
the message to their colleagues.
The project will be started in San José but later it will be
extended to the Caribbean port of Limon and the Pacific port of
Puntarenas. It will cost us$50,000, which has been contributed by
the World Bank.
Diaz said that the techniques designed to avoid contracting AIDS
will not be limited only to using condoms when engaging in sexual
relations with customers, but also in teaching the women what their
sexual rights are.
It is expected that the program will have a multiplier effect among
the country's prostitutes and will also raise awareness among some
1,100 regular male customers and brothel owners.
"This part will be difficult. What we want is for the (brothel)
managers to understand the advantages of having their locales free
of HIV (the virus that causes AIDS) and for them to promote them as
places where they apply preventive practices," she said.
The number of prostitutes in Costa Rica is not known for certain,
but it has been documented that in addition to Costa Rican women,
there are also large numbers of Nicaraguans, Dominicans and
Colombians practicing the trade.
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