Female sex workers, being among the highest risk groups for contracting HIV, are priority segment of the population in the ongoing national efforts to fight the virus.

Eric Remera, Director of HIV Surveillance and Research at the Rwanda Bio-Medical Center (RBC), says this is so because HIV prevalence in the general population has remained stable since 2005, at three per cent, but is at 45 per cent among female sex workers.

"This is too high. Most of them are below 24 years old and 61 per cent have been in sex work for less than four years,” Remera said.

"RBC has signed a contract with implementing partners who will work with health centres to improve condom distribution, awareness and treatment of those infected,” he said.

The 2013-2018 HIV National Strategic Plan, Remera said, identifies female sex workers as a critical group.

Remera said HIV prevalence in the country is highest in Kigali, at 6.3 per cent. The Southern province is at 2.6 per cent, Western province at 2.4 per cent, Northern province 2.3 per cent, and Eastern province 2.4 per cent.

Data from RBC also indicate that HIV prevalence remains higher among women (3.6 per cent) than among men (2.2 per cent). The highest HIV prevalence is among women aged 40-44 (7.8 per cent) and among men aged 45-49 (9.3 per cent). HIV prevalence among pediatrics (0-14 years) is at two per cent.

"But people need to know that they must continue the fight against the disease by using condoms, getting tested and those infected getting appropriate treatment,” Remera said.

The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that infects cells of the immune system, destroying or impairing their function. As the infection progresses, the immune system becomes weaker, and the person becomes more susceptible to infections. The most advanced stage of HIV infection is Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS).

According to the WHO, it can take 10-15 years for an HIV-infected person to develop AIDS, but antiretroviral drugs can slow down the process even further.

HIV is transmitted through unprotected sexual intercourse, transfusion of contaminated blood, sharing of contaminated needles, and between a mother and her infant during pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding.

WHO says that, globally, 36.9 million [34.4–41.4 million] people were living with HIV at the end of 2014, but almost half (46 per cent) of them did not know their HIV status.

Although the burden of HIV continues to vary considerably between countries and regions, an estimated 0.8 per cent of adults aged 15–49 years worldwide are living with the virus.

Sub-Saharan Africa remains the most severely affected region, with nearly 1 in every 20 adults (4.8 per cent) living with HIV and accounting for nearly 70 per cent of the people living with the virus worldwide.

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