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Suzanne D., Greece: "We have to recognize the scientific evidence that the brains of women and men are not the same. Women's brains are much more prone to hysteria than men's brains. That is why hundreds of thousands of women fall in love with the same pop stars such as Elvis Presley or Michael Jackson. Also with Adolf Hitler. And when they see their idol on stage, they just faint. Women's brains are also more easily hypnotized, and they can have more visions and phantasies. So, women's brains are less suited for leadership."
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Belarusian Association of UNESCO Clubs, Minsk, Belarus
Issues. Last years such phenomenon as sex business is widely spread in Republic of Belarus. Frequency of condom use and self-evaluation of risk of becoming HIV-infected among sex workers were never estimated. Description. Beginning from 2001 Belarusian Association of UNESCO Clubs is implementing a project aimed for HIV/STI reduction and prevention among female sex workers (FSW). During year 2003 project personnel in Minsk (capital of the country) completed questionnaires in the frame of behavioral study. Questionnaires were filled in during conducting an outreach work with FSW located in the streets and during consultations in the educational point. Lessons learned. Total amount of filled questionnaires was 88. 67% of respondents were in age group 16-20, 25%- aged 21-25 and older than 26 were 8%. Some questions on ways of HIV transmission were included in questionnaires. The survey demonstrated that the target group has a high level of basic knowledge on HIV issues- 70% of FSW gave right answers on this subject. However, only 45% of FSW always use condom, 45% use sometimes, 10%- don't use condoms in their work. An average amount of clients for one day was the following- 1 in 39% of cases, 35% have 2 clients, 6% of FSW have 3 clients, 3% have 4 clients, 16% refused to answer. Despite of such mode of behaviour, 30% of respondents doesn't accept risk for them to become HIV infected, 52% were not sure to answer, only 18% think they can get HIV infection. This data shows that unsafe sexual behaviour is widely spread among representatives of this vulnerable group. Recommendations. It is a great demand for special strategies and services for this group of population, because there are no governmental programmes aimed to HIV/STI prevention among sex workers, only a few NGOs work with this target group in Belarus.
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Lancelot Vasquez
333 Banff Avenue,
Banff, Alberta T1L 1B1
Canada