Clamp down on sex workers

 POLICE in Western Highlands have been commended for clamping down on prostitution in Mt Hagen.

Western Highlands Provincial AIDS Council technical officer, Apollos Yimbak thanked the provincial police commander Supt Martin Lakari for taking the initiative to stop sex workers in the city.

Yimbak said the involvement of police in the fight against HIV/AIDS in the province would make a big difference.

Yimbak said it was hard to stop sex workers in the city at night when they were waiting to be picked up.

He said young girls and divorced women earned their living through such illegal activities and never listened to them during awareness programmes in the city.

He said the women had so many sex partners, some of them married, and unknowingly spread sexually transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDS.

“I want to commend Lakari for acknowledging the problem that contributes to the spread of HIV/AIDS.”

Lakari recently warned sex workers engaged as “comfort girls” in small guest houses, lodges and clubs to stay at home.

He said if police started clamping down on sex workers in the city and prosecuting owners of guest houses, clubs and lodges, it would greatly affect the spread of the virus.  

Yimbak said HIV/AIDS was no longer a health problem but more of a social problem. 

He urged everyone to support the work of the provincial aids council.