Mamasans could be effective agents for promoting HIV/Aids awareness among migrant sex workers at Hong Kong nightclubs, a conference was told yesterday.
The Hong Kong Aids Conference was also told the SAR should consider legalising solicitation by sex workers to encourage safer sex behaviour and contain the spread of HIV.
Equal Opportunities Commission chairwoman Anna Wu Hung-yuk said that by changing the law, sex workers would feel safe in seeking advice and help without fearing they would fall foul of the law.
Possession of condoms was being used as evidence against women suspected of soliciting sex, she said.
Ms Wu also called for a change in the law which makes it an offence if a person is in possession of used needles containing traces of drugs. This would encourage needle exchange programmes aimed at reducing the spread of HIV.
'Both these measures are controversial but the community must consider them from the perspective of harm reduction and prevention of the spread of the HIV/Aids epidemic,' she said.
