44 ‘prostitutes’ test positive out of 93 arrested

A report by Hisbah officials (the Sharia police) indicating that 44 out of 93commercial sex workers arrested last Sunday at Kwanar Gafan are infected with deadly HIV/AIDS, is eliciting fears of massive spread of the scourge in the area –not only among clients but among innocent housewives across Kano state.

 If a single market could harbour as much as 44 HIV infected ‘prostitutes’, how many unsuspecting clients could have contracted the virus from the victims? What factors could have been responsible for the convergence of prostitutes at the Kwanan Gafan market? What would be the fate of innocent housewives who might have contracted the disease through unfaithful partners? What steps would the state government take to checkmate further spread of the scourge to other parts of the state? These questions and others have been befuddling the minds of residents in the wake of the Hisbah report.

The Kwanar Gafan market which deals mostly in tomato business is believed to be drawing people from all parts of Nigeria and neighbouring countries like Niger, Cameroon and Chad Republics.
 
Investigations by Weekly Trust revealed that the sex hawkers usually assemble at the market about two or three weeks before the seasonal business activities commenced.
“The state Ministry of Health has been actively working with the Federal Ministry of Health and other partners to ensure that the HIV scourge is adequately addressed and brought under control.  The HIV status in Kano during the last survey was 4.4 percent which is quite low when compared with that of other states