Laos: As Country "Loosens" HIV/AIDS Noose Tightens

The attitude towards sex of Laos' 6 million residents
is changing rapidly

VIENTIANE, LAOS -- Since the collapse of the former Soviet Union in 1991, when commercial sex, and to a certain degree pre-marital or non-marital sex, was suppressed by the threat of arrest or fines, Laos has experienced a barrage of change.

Laos, a largely Buddhist country, was isolated until fairly recently, but there are now more than 180,000 Lao nationals living as registered migrants in neighbouring Thailand, where prevalence rates among the general population stand at 1.4 percent.

Many mobile men are potential clients of sex workers, but fail to consider themselves as being at risk of HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). According to UNAIDS, other factors, such as the low socioeconomic status of women, high levels of poverty and a widening generation gap, are contributing to the spread of HIV.

There is also a growing use of recreational drugs, particularly amphetamines. An alarming number of sex workers are also thought to be injecting drugs, which could substantially deepen the HIV problem. Alcohol plays a significant role in the spread of the virus, particularly in relation to commercial sex and condom use, while behaviour patterns among young people are changing.

"More young people in Laos are having pre-marital sex at a younger age," said Sythong Nouansengsy, executive director of Population Services International, which has been advocating for safer sex and condom use since 1998. "This puts the country's prevalence rates in danger."

"Urban society is loosening up," Tony Bennett of Family Health International (FHI) agreed.

Such changing perceptions can be seen at popular meeting places and restaurants along the banks of the Mekong River, where young patrons may pair off for more romantic interludes afterwards - a sign of more liberal attitudes towards sex in this otherwise conservative society...

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