40,000 prostitutes in the country

26 December 2010 08:50 am Views - 18288

There are around 200,000 prostitute seekers and around 40,000 prostitutes in the country, according to a survey, Dr. Sujatha Samarakoon attached to the AIDS prevention unit of the Health Ministry said..

She said that these figures are something that has to be seriously taken into account considering the fact that Sri Lanka is a small country, in spite of spreading of HIV/ AIDS in Sri Lanka being considered to be minimal.

She called those who suspect of their vulnerability to the deadly disease to get their blood tested as there are arrangements to get it done confidentially.

There are around 3000 people identified as those infected with HIV and the number of people yet to be identified must be larger than that, she said and added that there are 50 infected mothers and 46 children who had been infected through their mothers.

212 people have died of AIDS in Sri Lanka since the first AIDS patient was found and they were between 20 and 49 years of age.  (Kanchana Kumara Ariyadasa)