Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2008. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Bangkok Post - June 17, 2008
Supoj Wancharoen
Deputy city clerk Sithisat Chiamwongpaet said he was told by Thai ambassador to South Africa Domdej Bunnag that quite a few Thai sex workers had returned home from there with HIV/Aids.
Mr Sithisat, who has just returned from a trip to Pretoria, said the ambassador told him about 1,000 Thais travel to South Africa each year to work in the sex industry.
Mr Sithisat said many sex workers viewed South Africa as an opportunity, but they were being misled.
They had to pay 200,000-300,000 baht to sex trade racketeers. Most earned less than they had expected, he said.
In 2006, 60 Thai sex workers sought help from the Thai embassy in Pretoria after being infected with HIV. About 20 Thai women called for help from the embassy in the first four months of this year. They were returned to Thailand.
Mr Sithisat said he would work with the Public Health Ministry in an effort to find ways to end the problem of HIV/Aids infections among Thai women working abroad.
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