Just before “Treatment as Prevention” hit the headlines with some controversy, PrEP or Pre Exposure Prophylaxis, was on everybody’s lips.

PrEP is an experimental approach that would use antiretroviral medications (ARVs, which are normally used to treat people living with HIV) to reduce the risk of HIV infection in HIV-negative people. In this intervention, HIV-negative people would take a single drug or a combination of drugs with the hope that it would lower their risk of infection if exposed to HIV. PrEP trials are ongoing around the world. (Source: AVAC)

Whilst some …

After years of mystery, the blogger behind the “Diary of a London Call Girl”, later adapted on TV as “The Secret Diary of a Call Girl” with Billie Piper in the title role, came out today as a young woman with a PhD in informatics, epidemiology and forensic science now working at the Bristol Initiative for Research of Child Health.
Brooke Magnanti, her book and Billie Pipper
Then a PhD student trying to write up her PhD Brooke Magnanti decided to become a sex worker when her saving ran out:
“I don’t know …

Controversial Dan Savage on the rights of sex workers: “However, to make it worse and more dangerous [for the people who end up in prostitution] because you are claimning to feel bad for prostitutes [...] is retarded.”

Rating 4.00 out of 5

An array of potential formats for microbicides:
gel, ring, cream… exist also in suppository and foam.

Reacting to a peripheries post on microbicides, Cheryl Overs commented “These [definition of microbicides] are a hint of the skewed propaganda about microbicides and an insight into the absence of consideration of how they will affect the millions of sex workers worldwide. Sex workers will lose any hope of using a 99% effective product against STIs, HIV and unwanted pregnancies, condoms” adding that, “The idea that sex workers will buy and use a combination of different …

Children playing in the centre of Phnom Penh. Prohibitive school fees are one of the reasons children do not attend school, notwithstanding the bribe requested by corrupt teachers to let pupils in.
Photo (c) peripheries

Prostitution and sex work are particularly difficult subjects to comment on. They are heavily loaded with emotional and often irrational charge especially when trafficking and children are taken into consideration. I would usually leave these topics to more qualified commentators such as Laura Agustin, but I’ll make an exception when HIV is involved.
What prompted this posting is …