Link between Beer and AIDS? More from the OHTN Conference, Day 2

On Friday at the Ontario HIV Treatment Network Conference, I saw this great movie filmed at the 2006 AIDS Conference in Toronto, about two little girls interviewing several participants about HIV and AIDS.  In Please Talk to Your Kids About AIDS, Vineeta (6) and Sevilla (4) interact with Stephen Lewis, a drag queen dressed as Queen Elizabeth, and a sex-toy sales woman, among others, asking questions such as “How does AIDS get into your body?” and drawing pictures of safe sex.  It’s available to download for free here if you’re interested in checking it out.

In an afternoon session, a student research team from Guelph made connections between AIDS and beer.  Specifically, they have been doing research with a group of women in Cambodia who work as “beer girls,” selling bottles of big-brand beer in Siem Reap’s beer tents.   According to one of their websites, BeerGirls.org,

“Beer promotion women (called locally, beer girls) exclusively sell one brand of beer in bars and restaurants. It is usual for them to have to sell one case of beer per night in return for a monthly salary averaging approx $US55 - about half the income needed to support their family. To supplement their income, about half accept propositions from tourists and local beer drinkers and exchange sex for money.”

This link between beer sales, transactional sex and HIV/AIDS is highlighted by the fact that 20percent of these women are seropositive for the virus.  If it makes you want to do something about it, at FairTradeBeer.com, they list the companies that are involved in these unfair relationships, including big names like Carlsberg, Heineken, INBEV (Becks, Labatts Ice, Stella Artois), Bavaria, Budweiser, Corona, Guinness, Johnny Walker and Jim Bean.