Author Description

"Truck Drivers and Casual Sex is part of the World Bank Working Paper series. These papers are published to communicate the results of the Bank's ongoing research and to stimulate public discussion." "While the threat of an HIV/AIDS epidemic cannot be taken lightly in any country of the Europe and Central Asia region, four countries - Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia - stand out as being particularly vulnerable. First, the prevalence of HIV/AIDS is relatively high and is rapidly increasing in locations neighboring these countries, like Ukraine, Kaliningard, Belarus, and Moldova, where public health conditions are also rapidly deteriorating." "Second, because of their geographical location, Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania stand at the crossroads of the main east-west and north-south transport corridors, and represent the link between countries of the former Soviet Union and western Europe. The open borders and rapid transit threatens to broaden the sweep of the HIV epidemic, from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus to Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, as drug injectors and sex workers come into contact with other population groups in these countries." "This report is based on a survey that explores the practice of casual sex among truck drivers and commercial sex workers in the border areas of Poland and Lithuania at a point in time, and uses this evidence to extrapolate the potential impact on the spread of HIV/AIDS in these countries."--BOOK JACKET.