Aliga Issa
21 August 2007
Rakai — Sex workers in Kyotera and Nyendo towns in Rakai and Masaka districts respectively want to be involved in the ongoing microbicide trials, despite doubts on the efficiency of the trials.
Microbicides are liquid substances that a woman can apply in her private parts before sexual intercourse to avoid contracting sexually transmitted infections including HIV.
The PRO 2000 microbicide trials are being conducted by the Medical Research Council/Uganda Virus Research Institute in Masaka district.
Learning from their female colleagues who have been using condoms and gel bought from retail shops, a section of sex workers in the two districts, who Daily Monitor talked to over the weekend, said if they are involved, the female-friendly microbicide trials could help reduce their chances of catching STIs.
"Because women do not have the social or economic power to insist on condom use or abandon our daily customers who put our lives at risk, we adopted the idea of using gel before sexual intercourse," some of the sex workers said last week.
During an interview conducted on Sunday in one of the lodges in Kyotera town, a 39-year-old woman commonly known as 'Sweet Baibie' said she has been using 'Night Rose' cream for the last 15 years and this has protected her from contracting HIV/Aids and unwanted pregnancies.
The woman, who says she became a sex worker in 1988, did not reveal whether the cream she has been using has any side effect. "Prostitution is a risky business. I was forced to use gel as a protective measure because some men do not want to use condoms," she said.
Asked whether she has ever taken an HIV/Aids test, she said several tests were made and found her free from HIV, the virus that leads to Aids.
Sweet Baibie is a discordant mother of a 15-year-old girl who is in Senior Two.
Symon Wandiembe, an official in charge of microbicide trials at Masaka branch Medical Research Council, said prostitutes would be involved in the microbicide trials but that there would be a challenge of monitoring them because some of them are not stationed in one place.
On the PRO 2000 microbicide update, he said an effective gel was designed for women to apply in the private parts before sexual intercourse to prevent catching sexually transmitted diseases. Mr Wandiembe said the Medical Research Council has enrolled at-least 450 couples for the microbicide trials in Masaka District. He said of them, over 200 have been using the gel for over 12 months.
He said Masaka clinical site expects to get 710 couples.
The enrollment will end in March 2008 while the follow up is expected to end in March 2009. He said the overall results on the PRO 2000 microbicide efficacy are expected in June 2009.
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