Rajahmundry: HIV prevalence is increasing daily among transgenders, MSMs, and female sex workers in East Godavari, Krishna and Guntur districts in the state. This is sounding alarm bells among the health authorities, alerting them to intensify their targeted intervention to contain its spread as this may affect the health of society. US-based human development organisation ‘Family Health International 360’, carried out a survey recently in East Godavari and found there was HIV prevalence to the tune of 12 per cent among TGs, six per cent among MSMs and two to three per cent among female sex workers. Nearly 250 TGs, over 1,200 MSMs and over 7,500 FSWs exist as per records as they have registered with the health authorities and the NGO for counseling and health care.
There are hundreds of others belonging to these three categories who remain unregistered with either health authorities or any NGO to get any counseling or health care or any other support as they handle issues related to their profession, health care and other issues on their own. The prevalence of HIV remains more or less the same in other districts, including Krishna and Guntur. NGO authorities say that persons belonging to a poor financial background are becoming vulnerable to the lure of the flesh trade. Social stigma, discrimination and denial of acceptance by family members are worsening matters as the high-risk groups are unwilling to either disclose or share their identity with others except among their peer group. The NGO along with state health authorities are making efforts to identify such high-risk groups and to provide them counseling and health care. As the health of some high-risk groups are asymptomatic, while some are symptomatic, the health authorities are conducting regular medical check-ups and counseling them to undergo HIV tests and distributing condoms for safe sex. They are also attempting to create a safe and reassuring environment for them as they are the victims of discrimination from many sections of society.
Family Health International 360 senior programme officer D. Shantha said, “We are on the lookout for ‘hot spots’ along the national highway and other places to find high-risk groups to counsel them and provide health care. It is a big challenge to find such groups and persuade them to undergo health tests and to counsel them to accept medication regularly. If the infected person remains undetected and untreated, the health of society will be in jeopardy.”
The last resort -- Castration
Shockingly, several desperate young men from rural areas choose to spend lakhs of rupees and undergo castration to become transgenders. These young men, who were exposed to working with transgenders in the sex trade earlier, are resorting to castration either because they want to or at the behest of leaders in the transgender community, who want them to spend all their savings earned in the trade. According to an estimate, it costs Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh to undergo castration in a big hospital and this is happening mainly in Vijayawada.
