Inter Press Service - July 8, 2005
Tangeni Amupadhi

This is the type of comment that one might expect a Catholic priest to make about prostitution. However, Klein-Hitpass is not speaking about the moral pitfalls that life as a sex worker arguably entails. In Namibia, HIV presents a more immediate threat to prostitutes - something the government does not seem willing to confront.

No statistics are available about the number of sex workers in the Southern African country, where prostitution is illegal - though tolerated.

HIV prevalence is Namibia is just over 21 percent, according to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). But, Klein-Hitpass believes the infection rate could be as high as 75 percent amongst the sex workers who are cared for by 'Stand Together': an organisation he set up in the mid-1990s to provide food and shelter for prostitutes in Katutura, a low income area in the capital of Windhoek.

Despite the nature of their work, prostitutes have not been singled out for special attention in AIDS testing and treatment - and are not the target of a concerted HIV prevention initiative.

Five years ago, former health minister Libertina Amathila made an impassioned plea for prostitution to be legalised as part of the campaign to stem the spread of HIV. Her cabinet colleagues, parliament and churches shot down the idea immediately on moral grounds. And, Amathila's successor, Richard Kamwi, has stated that his ministry is not about to revisit the matter.

Says Klein-Hitpass, "When it is dark enough the ladies are wanted by many people, but during the day in parliament they want to burn them out."

Ella Shihepo, director of special services in the Ministry of Health and Social Services, notes that certain government officials do not like to be seen working directly with prostitutes, as they fear this may be construed as encouraging sex work.

This is despite the fact that the benefits of decriminalizing prostitution seem clear to her - also to Abner Xoagub, chief administrator of the National Aids Control Programme (NACP).

"If they were regulated we could have done more to target them for education programmes and even make it mandatory that they have regular check ups and health certificates to practice," he told IPS. "It is difficult to reach them now because they operate underground."

Xoagub also believes it would be easier to reach the clients of prostitutes if sex work was legalised.

Klein-Hitpass voices similar sentiments. In the past year, he claims to have distributed 35,000 condoms to sex workers in Katutura - many of which may still be in their wrappers: "The main reason is that the clients do with the ladies what they want, and unfortunately we never get the clients here."

Female sex workers are typically paid between three and 15 U.S. dollars by the men who frequent them. In the absence of a condom, however, their fee can rise to almost 44 dollars, says 36-year-old Johanna - who asked that her surname be withheld to protect her husband and children.

As Barbara, another prostitute, notes: "They say it is not as pleasurable with a condom. It's better flesh to flesh."

For those who are struggling to make ends meet, taking a gamble on sex without a condom may well seem worth it in the short term.

"We need to pay rent, buy food, look after our children," says Anastias, a former sex worker, who expresses the hope that "government will do something about us so that AIDS can stop."

Namibia currently has an unemployment rate of over 30 percent, and the prospects of getting a job outside of prostitution are probably slim for many sex workers. According to the 2004 UN Human Development Report, about 35 percent of Namibians live below the poverty line of one U.S. dollar a day.

For those prostitutes who have contracted HIV, the future can look even bleaker. Klein-Hitpass says the spread of AIDS has made many despondent, even suicidal: "We give them food once a week and a bible. This is just to keep their hopes alive."

Of the 1,170 sex workers who receive support from 'Stand Together' - the only organisation of its kind in Namibia - about 100 are on anti- retroviral treatment (ART).

A sex worker interviewed by IPS said she had managed to get onto the Namibia Red Cross Society's free anti-retroviral programme after testing positive earlier this year. At present, in the region of 10,000 people are receiving ART from government (up to 250,000 adults and children in Namibia are living with HIV, according to UNAIDS).

Xoagub says the NACP also distributes female condoms - or "femidons" - in the hope of preventing HIV transmission amongst prostitutes. Proponents of the femidon argue that as women do not require the consent of a man to insert this device, it provides them with a more effective method of protection against HIV in potentially risky sexual encounters.

Some believe these measures simply do not go far enough.

"The reality is that we do have a serious problem (with HIV and prostitution), but it looks like we are ignoring it," a social worker told IPS, asking not to be named for fear of losing her job.

For the moment, then, it is business as usual for Namibia's sex workers.

"On the one hand police are sent to catch them," says Klein- Hitpass. "But on the other hand they take the ladies for themselves and then refuse to pay."

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