Much work remains to be done to prevent transmission of HIV/AIDS in Poipet, according to a survey presented at a workshop on the disease earlier this month.
Female casino workers, most from other towns, don’t seem to know where to get condoms in Poipet and use them only one time out of eight with their boyfriends, the survey said.
The survey was conducted last year by the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Dermatology and STDs, and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Global AIDS Program. The survey targeted male casino workers, police officers and military personnel; female casino workers, sex workers, karaoke and beer girls; and pregnant women at natal clinics.
Poipet’s residents consist mostly of men from around the country who are away from their families, said Tia Phalla, secretary-general of the National AIDS Authority.
Casino workers, usually unmarried and in their early 20s, return to their home provinces after a year or two in Poipet, said Kim Green, CARE Cambodia HIV/AIDS coordinator.
According to the survey, male casino workers, police officers and military staff use condoms nearly 80 percent of the time with sex workers. But they don’t take the same precaution with wives and girlfriends, with condom use dropping to about 25 percent.
The infection rate for tested casino workers was 2 percent and nearly 7 percent for police officers and the military, the study found.
More than half of the male casino workers surveyed said they had visited sex workers during the year, while about a third of the policemen and military staff said they had. The survey revealed that less than 1 percent of female casino workers sell sex, compared to 55.8 of karaoke and beer girls. Only 3.8 percent were HIV/AIDS positive, while the rate for karaoke and beer girls is 11.7 percent and 30 percent for sex workers.
