A group of Nepalese young girls standing and waiting for clients at the entrance of Sonargachi brothel in western city of Calcutta. These girls are being trafficked into India with promises of jobs in big cities. The demand for beautiful looking Nepalese women is very high in Indian brothels and the business of trafficking girls from Nepal and other neighboring countries is well established – some rural communities in these poor countries have been selling their children into prostitution for generations.

Some Indian brothels have an HIV infection rate as high as 75%. Once infected and sick by AIDS, these girls are usually replaced with fresh ones. Infected ones are send beck to their villages or rural communities, where once again prostitution is taken up, if not as a primary occupation, as part time. This pattern spreads infections in such remote communities where getting treatment, even for minor infections or disease, let alone HIV/AIDS is considered a dream.

Calcutta, India.

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