Real voices: the HIV emergency in Bangladesh

15 August 2006 A man in his thirties, who called himself Dr Musharaf, explains that people often share needles, even though they know the risks they put themselves under.

“When you cannot pay to get drugs, you share with maybe two others, but then have to divide it up between three, and it is harder to do that with three needles, so you watch while your friend injects, and when he has had his amount, you take it from his arm as quickly as you can, and take your share. That way, even though there is a risk, it is easier to get the right amount each. We know the problems, and how HIV can be spread, but money is the problem.”

 

 

Sabina, 25, earns about 50 taka (less than 50p) from each client she takes on. She became a sex worker after being trafficked into Dhaka from her home in rural Bangladesh.

“I was separated from my husband and had no other family members, so when a lady, a distant relative, said she would help me, get me a job and a husband in Dhaka, I went with her. But she sold me into a home-based sex workers’ brothel, where we were locked in. I had a relationship with a client who got me out after five years, but ended up living on the street when he left. Now my friend Shumi and I live together, we look after each other. Sometimes we earn between 500 and 800 taka in a night, but only if we take two to three men at once. But drugs are the biggest problem. We both smoke heroin and inject.”