LESOTHO: Growing garment industry fuels AIDS concerns

An international development agency on Monday said Lesotho's growing garment industry was causing concern over the impact of HIV/AIDS on people arriving from rural areas in search of work.

CARE international's Lesotho project manager, Gillian Forrest, said young women were particularly vulnerable because of the "many transactions around sex" in the cities.

"There are huge queues for jobs each day. Women are very vulnerable and can get sucked into the commercial sex trade," Forrest told the UN news service PlusNews.

A Private Sector Coalition against HIV/AIDS (PSCAAL), launched last year, aimed to develop workplace HIV/AIDS policies, information resources, and voluntary counselling and testing facilities.

"There is information and access to condoms, but when a guy says he will pay more money for sex without a condom, they say 'yes', because they need money to survive," Forrest explained.

Theme (s): Care/Treatment - PlusNews, Economy,

[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]