Sex trafficking spreading HIV in South Asia

Trafficking of women across South Asia to work as prostitutes is likely a key factor in the spread of HIV/AIDS across the region, according to a study released Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The study, which looked at Nepali women who had been trafficked into the sex trade in India and later repatriated, found that nearly 40 per cent of them were HIV-positive with the figure rising beyond 60 per cent among those trafficked before age 15.

"Our study for the first time documents very high rates of HIV in girls trafficked for sexual exploitation at very young ages," said lead author Jay Silverman, an associate professor at Harvard's School of Public Health. South Asia is one of the worst affected areas with some 2.5 million people infected with HIV/AIDS in India alone. The report estimated that some 150,000 girls and women are trafficked each year across the region.

A U.S. State Department report released last month found that India has the world's largest human trafficking problem.

That report estimated that tens of millions of Indians are subjected to forced labour and said sex trafficking was common. However, it noted that the Indian government has taken steps to combat sex trafficking.

The JAMA study, funded by the U.S. State Department, examined 287 Nepalese girls and women trafficked to brothels in India and repatriated between 1997 and 2005.

"The repatriation of Nepalese survivors of sex trafficking may play a critical role in spreading HIV across South Asian borders," Silverman said via e-mail. "They are extremely vulnerable to being coerced into unsafe sexual behaviour and being re-trafficked for sexual exploitation, either within Nepal or back in India."