Sex for fish: teenage girls risk pregnancy and HIV

A woman carries a bucket of fish past fishing boats at Sindo Main Beach in Homa Bay
© UNICEF Kenya/2019/Andrew Brown

It is early morning at Sindo Main Beach in Homa Bay when the fishing boats arrive. The smell of fish is already strong in the air. White egret birds circle and call out, looking to steal a meal. As a new boat arrives, a man wading waist deep in the water shows it where to land. Dozens of women race forward to get their buckets in the boat, reserving a portion of the catch. Fishermen scoop up large handfuls of tiny omena fish, quickly filling up the buckets. Most women hand over 1,000 shillings ($10 USD) but a few do not. For these women, there is an understanding that they will meet the fisherman later for sex.

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Preparing for PrEP: a new weapon in the fight against HIV

Vu discusses his experiences of using PrEP at a coffee shop in Bangkok
© UNICEF EAPRO/2016/Andy Brown

Vu, 24, grew up in the countryside outside Ho Chi Minh City. Rural Vietnam was not an easy place to be gay. At the age of 12, Vu told some friends he liked boys. “My friends were supportive, but the guy I liked told everyone I was disgusting,” he recalls. After that, Vu kept his sexual orientation secret from his friends and family. When Vu finally came out to his parents, they didn’t take it very well. “My mum said I would die of HIV because I’m gay,” he says. “We stopped communicating for several years after that.”

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Location, location: mobile dating apps and HIV

Nest (right) and friend Jesse look at gay dating apps on a smart phone
© UNICEF EAPRO/2015/Andy Brown

Nest is a 19-year-old living in Bangkok. Like many other gay adolescents, he uses mobile apps to meet up for dates. “I use apps to meet other guys nearby,” he says. “I don’t like to have sex at the first meeting, I prefer to chat and get to know the person first. But some of my friends just meet up for sex.”

A new report, Adolescents: Under the Radar in the Asia-Pacific AIDS Response, shows that the Asia-Pacific region is facing a ‘hidden epidemic’ of HIV among adolescents. Although new HIV infections are falling overall, they are rising among teenagers. In 2014, there were at least 220,000 adolescents aged 10-19 living with HIV in the region, with major cities like Bangkok and Hong Kong hubs of new infections.

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Young people set the agenda at AIDS congress

I’ve been to many international conferences in my time and the word ‘fun’ doesn’t immediately spring to mind. But the 11th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP), held in Bangkok, really was fun. This was largely because of the enthusiastic participation of young people and HIV activists from around the region.

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