Sex trafficking spreading HIV in South Asia: Study

Washington: 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 some 40 percent of them were HIV positive with the figure rising to 60 percent among those trafficked before the age of 15. "The high rates of HIV documented herein support concerns that sex trafficking may be a significant factor in the expansion of the South Asian HIV epidemic," the report said. South Asia is one of the worst affected areas with some 3.5 million people infected with HIV-AIDS in India alone. The report estimated that some 150,000 girls and women 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 were subjected to forced labor and said sex trafficking was common. However, it noted the Indian government had taken some steps to combat sex trafficking. The JAMA study, headed by Jay G. Silverman of the Harvard School of Public Health examined 287 repatriated Nepalese girls and women sex trafficked to brothels in India and repatriated between 1997 and 2005. Bureau Report