©InfoReaching sex workers with information on HIV is a challenge for anyone, but this is exactly what Pan Xiaoyan, from the Red Cross Society of China has been doing in Yunnan for eight years.
Yunnan province has the highest HIV rate in China and was the first place to begin tackling the problem. Xiaoyan has worked extensively to promote HIV awareness among sex workers who are one of the most vulnerable groups.
“Sex workers often move around to see new clients, so they are very difficult to reach,” Xiaoyan said.“We make contact with them through the entertainment scene such as karaoke bars and in brothels. The `Mamie’ takes care of all the women in the brothel and a good relationship with her is extremely crucial to get messages through to sex workers.”
Difficult work
Xiaoyan described how her work can be difficult especially when people she meets pass away.
“I worked with a sex worker who had contracted HIV in Thailand and later died,” she said. “It is difficult work but very important.”
Xiaoyan also works with men who have sex with men, providing information and condoms.
“In the past many of them didn’t want condoms but now they accept them,” she said. “Many sex workers and men who have sex with men don’t want to get tested, so we provide counselling to encourage them to get tested and then access treatment if found to be positive.”
Xiaoyan said some of her older relatives are critical of the work she does.
“Men who have sex with men and sex workers are not really tolerated in traditional Chinese society, but my friends and younger people are generally supportive of what I do,” she said.
The British Red Cross is supporting this programme.
More about our HIV work in China