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BENGALURU: A sex worker should be able to get a condom in 12-30 minutes, states one of the objectives of National Aids Control Programme. However, this isn’t the case in Karnataka, especially in Ramanagaram, Udupi and Hassan districts and Doddaballapur taluk, thanks to glitches in condom supply and distribution programmes of the Karnataka State AIDS Pre vention Society (KSAPS). Result: The threat of a spurt in HIV infections looms large over the state. Every month, the government supplies 26-30 lakh condoms for free to sex workers and sexual minorities in Karnataka. But the stock available for December is a mere 6.9 lakh. However, KASPS project director SG Raveendra denied the shortage. "We should be receiving more stocks soon; there’s no problem," he told TOI.
 
However, peer educators supplying condoms to high-risk groups and NGOs involved in the HIV-prevention programme confirmed there was indeed a severe scarcity of condoms. Karnataka is considered one of the states with the highest number of HIV-positive persons. The state has over 87,000 sex workers who should ideally be covered under the free condom programme.
 
According to NGOs and activists, the shortage will affect distribution of condoms to all high-risk groups and sites, including migrants, truckers, transshipment points and highways. "We are fighting AIDS with our back to the wall. Any glitch in the process will only affect lives and escalate the financial coordinates of treatment cost," they say .
 
"Many targeted interventions (free condom distribution) for female sex workers have been closed in districts like Ramanagaram, Bangalore Rural and Udupi. Thousands of sex workers are struggling to get stocks of free condoms.Sex workers who led the prevention programme as peer educators are now idle with no supplies. The good work of the last 10 years will be wasted and deaths due to AIDSrelated illness could increase," explained Bharathi, a sex worker and general secretary of Karnataka sex workers union.
 
The union works in 22 districts of the state and has a paid membership of over 3,000 sex workers who are activists too.
 
Distribution issue:
 
A KSAPS official admitted that there were problems in Ramanagaram and Udupi districts. "If high-risk groups are not getting condoms, then the problem could be at the distribution level. We will have a discussion with the NGOs to address the issue," said the officer.
 
Another concern is that most of NGOs working with KSAPS have severed their links with the society over various issues. The agency needs to recruit new NGOs to implement the targeted intervention programme of distributing condoms.