By Marzena Kulis, Mukesh Chawla, Adam Kozierkiewicz, and Emilis Subata
This study treats HIV/AIDS as a multi-sectoral issue, showing the potential spread of the epidemic by the truck drivers engaging into casual sex with commercial sex workers during their travel and at the borders. It surveys the extent of casual sex among truck drivers and commercial sex workers in the border areas of Poland and Lithuania, and uses this evidence to extrapolate the potential impact on the spread of HIV/AIDS in these countries.
A key finding is that Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia are vulnerable to a fast-spreading epidemic. First, the prevalence of HIV/AIDS is relatively high and is rapidly increasing in neighboring Ukraine, Kaliningrad, Belarus, and Moldova, where public health conditions are, in some instances, deteriorating.
Second, the four countries stand at the crossroads of the region's main East-West and North-South transport corridors, and represent the link between countries of the former Soviet Union and western Europe. Relatively open borders and rapid transit threatens to broaden the sweep of the HIV epidemic, from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus to Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, as drug injectors and sex workers come into contact with other population groups in these countries.
Full Report (2.59 MB, PDF)
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