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🇦🇺 Australia /Health & Science

The unheard voices of sex workers on the frontline of PNG's HIV crisis

From ABC Australia · (8h ago) English Critical tone

Summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

TLDR

  • Sex workers in Papua New Guinea (PNG) face extreme violence and health risks, including a surging HIV crisis, while struggling to make ends meet.
  • Many sex workers, like Sylvia and Treena, engage in unprotected sex for higher pay, despite the risks of contracting HIV and other infections.
  • PNG declared an HIV crisis in June 2025, with an estimated 120,000 people living with the virus, and sex workers are identified as a highly vulnerable group.

In the bustling, yet often unforgiving, streets of Port Moresby, the lives of sex workers paint a stark picture of survival against overwhelming odds. These individuals, many of them mothers or transgender women, turn to sex work out of necessity, driven by the need to provide for themselves and their families in a country grappling with economic hardship and a severe HIV epidemic.

A lot of the time we are attacked and almost killed by these men.

— Sylvia PokDescribing the physical dangers faced by sex workers.

"A lot of the time we are attacked and almost killed by these men," shared Sylvia Pok (a pseudonym), highlighting the constant threat of physical violence that accompanies their work. The financial rewards, though sometimes substantial in local currency, are often earned at immense personal risk. For women like Sylvia, earning 200-300 Papua New Guinean kina ($60-95) can mean the difference between paying rent and going hungry. Yet, the danger extends beyond physical assault; the pervasive presence of HIV-infected clients adds a terrifying layer of health risk.

Even some widow mothers are now hanging around here and we look for money to fill our stomach.

— Sylvia PokExplaining the economic desperation driving women into sex work.

Treena (a pseudonym), a transgender woman who has been in sex work for over 20 years, admits to engaging in unprotected sex when the financial incentives are high. "If they give me a big amount of money, or buy me things, I just go for it, take the risk," she confessed. This precarious balance between financial survival and health preservation is a daily reality for many. Despite the risks, advocacy groups and healthcare providers do reach out to offer HIV testing and support, a crucial lifeline in a community often marginalized and stigmatized.

If he refuses to be safe by using a condom then I will not have sex with him because my life is also important, and I am doing this to live.

— Sylvia PokStating her conditions for engaging in sex work, prioritizing her health.

Papua New Guinea declared an HIV crisis in June 2025, with alarming numbers of new infections, including babies born with the virus. Official figures place the number of people living with HIV at over 120,000, though the true figure is likely higher. UNAIDS identifies sex workers, men who have sex with men, and transgender individuals as particularly vulnerable. The stories of Sylvia and Treena are not isolated incidents; they represent the unheard voices on the frontlines of PNG's health crisis, a crisis exacerbated by poverty, stigma, and the desperate measures individuals take to survive.

If they give me a big amount of money, or buy me things, I just go for it, take the risk.

— TreenaExplaining her decision to engage in unprotected sex for financial gain.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by ABC Australia. Summarized and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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