Most urban areas have sex workers and Bugembe in Jinja City is among those towns in East Africa known for having a big number of them.
But the Eye Media has found out, majority of sex workers are struggling to successfully get the gospel of safe sex across to clients.
There is sex worker in Budhumbuli, Bugembe who confesses to be HIV positive. She preferred to be named Pretty for this interview.
Pretty says that her customers refused to use condoms despite the fact that she openly tells them about her HIV status.
“When I tell them that I’m HIV-positive, they say I am deceiving and they demand for live sex – to enjoy,” she said.
“When you give in, they eventually pay highly and even give you more money as appreciation,” adds Pretty whose appearance does not depict her status.
As her name, this lady looks so pretty, healthy, beautiful – well curved but indeed she is HIV positive and has lived on anti-retroviral drugs for the last 10 years.
She admits that many of her clients think she is healthy – given her curvaceous bode.
“I have plenty of customers; mostly truck drivers. I usually ask that they use condoms for protection but they refuse. Some say they don’t enjoy it when they use condoms while others say condoms are not 100% safe”.
According to her, out of every 10 clients, only one or two will accept to use a condom.
Blessing (not real name) is another sex worker also in Bugembe.
Blessing says she was forced into prostitution after her husband’s failure to meet their domestic financial needs. Unlike Pretty, she is unsure of her HIV status.
“I do not even need to know my HIV status, all I must know is the ability of the client to pay for my service. Knowing my status won’t change anything,” she says.
“A customer is the boss. If he is ready to give me the money I want and he puts HIV testing as a condition is when I will go for it.”
Blessing told this author that she stopped asking her customers to put on a condom because most of them do not want.
“I have condoms in my room and I move with them whenever I am coming to work, says Blessing as she pulls out a pack of condoms to show them to this author, “but men just don’t want to put them on. So if he asks for them, I pull them out and there i don’t overcharge him,” she candidly explains.
Like Pretty, Blessing too says that her clients allege it’s not as enjoyable as without condoms.
“And if you insist, some customers may leave and look for another worker ready to give them live,” she says.
Martha, a mother of two, says she is engaged in prostitution for a while until she finds a man ready to marry her.
“I began prostitution when I was married and when the father to my kids blamed me, I decided to pack out and rented my own room with better expectations but things are not working out. Prostitution is too risky,” Martha says.
These women are at the heart of a teeming business area, rife with truck drivers travelling between Mombasa and Rwanda, DR Congo and South Sudan. The drivers love the area because of its good security, cheaper accommodation and the women.
Far away from the prying eyes of their wives and children, these men turn to the sex workers and don’t think beyond the moment, when they are asked to use a condom.
Muhammad, a truck driver, explains that they find the temptation to cheat impossible to avoid.
“Sometimes the urge for physical intimacy is overwhelming, causing us to do what we don’t want to do,” he says.
Asked whether he thinks about the consequences, he hesitates before pulling on a cigarette and grunting. “Kama mbaya mbaya”, a Kiswahili phrase that loosely means, “if hard luck hits, it hits.”
But Angel (not real name) another sex worker who looks to be below 20, says it is not only truck drivers who buy them – “rich men in this town too are our clients.”
This lady claims to be a relief and happiness provider to several loaded and high profile men in Busoga’s city.
“If he is ready to pay for a hotel room in town and give me a pay of 200,000, then it is him to decide whether or not to use a condom,” she says.
Alarming HIV infection levels
Yet what is beyond dispute is that most of these men and women are actually contributing heavily to the surging HIV infection levels.
Although Busoga is among the regions with low HIV/Aids prevalence countrywide, Jinja city has the highest prevalence than even the national average, posting 5.7 percent.
According to Dan Kirunda, the Principal Health Inspector for Jinja City North Division, the HIV prevalence in Bugembe town stands at 6.5% which is significantly higher than in other parts of the city.
“Bugembe is the dormitory for Jinja, housing over 65% of the city dwellers on top of truck drivers because we have an influx of cheap lodges and bars,” Kirunda said when interviewed by this website on Sunday June 25, 2023.
Nationally, the prevalence of HIV among adults aged 15 to 64 is 6.2%: 7.6% among females and 4.7% among males. This corresponds to approximately 1.2 million people aged 15 to 64 living with HIV in Uganda. HIV prevalence is higher among women living in urban areas (9.8%) than those in rural areas (6.7%).
According to the 2021 Ministry of Health annual estimates, about 1000 people are infected with HIV every week and about 325 people die every week due to AIDS related infections.
Observers believe those figures will increase further unless something is done about infection rates.
Trevor Solomon Baleke the Deputy RDC for Namayingo but resident of Bugembe implored parents to join in the advocacy for ending HIV/AIDS by 2030 as envisaged in the Presidential Fast Track Initiative.
Baleke told this author on Saturday that “the lady sex workers have parents. Some parents failed on their parenting responsibility and now their daughters are selling their bodies, risking to acquire and spread HIV,” he said.
He was also concerned with the general laxity on HIV prevention amidst an increase in new infections.
“The married should stick to their spouses. Those who are searching should make sure, HIV and other tests are done before anything. The 30 minutes test will save your life. Don’t take things for granted,” he appealed.
Baleke a veteran Radio talk show host, called on the current talk show hosts to always bring topics that create awareness than political debates all the time.
“Radios can do much in changing and shaping our communities. Sensitization of our communities has far reaching benefits than endless politicking when it is not electioneering period,” said Baleke.
From a distance, it looks like what the Deputy RDC is suggesting won’t save the likes of Pretty who are already HIV positive after their escapades in Bugembe. However, it can save lives especially of the young girls who are not yet on the Pretty’s group.
