The New Nation - Internet Edition

Mohammad Khairul Alam

Asia has one of the fastest rates of spread of HIV/AIDS infection in the world. At present, HIV/AIDS infection is still virtually nonexistent amongst most of these populations in Bangladesh. But it is extremely likely that once it is initiated, it will spread rapidly through these extended networks of risk. Prostitutes exist at significant levels in Bangladesh, India and Philippines, and condom use is minimal in these areas. In Bangladesh, sex workers in brothels as well as on the streets report rather high client turnover, by Asian standards. Sex workers contact around 19 clients per week on average and the ratio for the street workers is reported to be between 12 and 16 in different cities. Consistent use of condom is one of the lowest in the South Asia region.

The social exclusion of sex workers exacerbates the situation of the more vulnerable groups among them, such as minors, drug users, ethnic minorities or migrants, and finally the people who are under the total control of pimps and/or traffickers. All these groups face the pressure of repressive legislation, which often excludes them from the legal, social and health care facilities available to the general population. A prerequisite for the social inclusion of sex workers, including the above-mentioned groups, is the recognition and protection of their human and civil rights, irrespective of issues if they are migrant, local, drug-using or homosexual people.

Many women and girls from rural areas in developing countries feel it is their duty to migrate to urban areas to lessen the impoverished condition of their family. Some of them leave their familiar environment and live in the cities without much support. Theses women and girls who migrate are highly vulnerable to sexual exploitation, abuse or violence. This is where they are often exposed to high-risk situations for which they are not prepared to save themselves. These circumstances of instability and vulnerability often leave these female migrants easy prey to sexual exploitation and also very much vulnerable to HIV as a result.

Street sex workers in Bangladesh are very mobile. They typically work in one place for around a year before moving on to another location. In a survey conducted in Dhaka city by GHARONI (2005), Street sex workers interviewed were predominantly young, uneducated, poor women and adolescent girls from rural areas. Street sex workers are at a heightened risk for acquiring HIV due to the fact that they go through multiple sexual contacts per night and rarely care about consistent use of condoms. Street sex workers, especially those new to the sex worker chain, are also very much vulnerable to HIV infection during their first six months of sex work, when they have minimal bargaining authority.

Due to the nature of their business - often as street gangs, overlooked by pimps - they are also a difficult group to educate and to be reached. Some NGOs, like the R.R.C. Tangail, have initiated livelihood training, through which they hope to provide these street girls with an alternative to prostitution. Consisting of education and awareness building programs in schools at the target areas, reaching out to students aged 15 and above, these programs are designed to give an overview of Reproductive Health, safe sexuality, STDs and HIV/AIDS awareness. But many of the street girls who end up on the training center at a very early age - 12 to14 years, would probably not benefit from the training program because there is a good chance that they might dropout from such program due to their frequent ratio of migration.

Behavioral change of men is essential to prevent unprotected sex as well as protecting commercial sex workers from physical violence. Because of their multiple sex partners and potential for HIV transmission through unprotected sex, sex workers are considered one of the highest risk groups for HIV. The Rainbow Nari O Shishu Kallyan Foundation found that floating sex workers with an average one year's experience, attend five clients per week. They work in diverse locations at night, most commonly in gardens, parks and terminal place, and also in the streets and markets. Many sex workers are faced with more immediate problems such as instability, loss of family environment, forced sex, violence, and social exclusion. Judging by all these aspects, this group does not emerge on a high position in our list of priorities to work with, because they are less likely to be found as a group.

Sources: UNAIDS, UNICEF, FHI

-Jamayet Ali

Gajor (Carrot) is an annual or biennial herb with an erect, feathery leaves, small white flowers and much branched stem. The colour of the roots in the cultivated types varies from white to yellowish, orange yellow, light purple, deep red or deep violet and the shape varies from short stumps to tapering cones. Important species among the exotic types grown in Bangladesh are Chantenay, Nantes, Early Nantes, Gold Spike, Imperator, Long-Scarlet etc. Among the indigenous types, a greenish white form is preferred to cultivation for its hardiness and yield qualities. Its Botanical name is Daucus carota.

Carrot roots are used as a vegetable for soups, stews, curries and pies. Grated roots are used as salad and tender roots are pickled. Dehydrated carrot in the form of discs and slices and carrot jam are popular. Carrot juice is a rich source of carotene. It is used for colouring butter and other food articles. Press juice from carrot is used as a blend for orange juice to give a palatable canned beverage. Carrot juice covers up the stale flavour of canned orange juice and the mixed product remains palatable even after storage for one year.

All kinds of soils, except clay, are suitable for raising carrots, but a well-drained, medium or light loamy soil is best suited. Carrots can stand a slightly alkaline soil. Only the short stamp rooted varieties thrive in heavy soils. The long tapering varieties require open soil which permits roots to penetrate freely and swell evenly. The shape and colour of roots are influenced by temperature, high temperature tending to produce short roots poor in colour. Carrot is probably a native of the sea-coasts of South Europe, but of very ancient cultivation.

Carrot is rich in nutrition values. Edible per 100 grams of carrot contain: moisture 85.0; minerals 0.9; fibre 1.2; protein 1.2; fat 0.2 and carbohydrate 12.7g.; calorie 57 (energy); calcium, 27; iron, 2.2; vitamin B1, 0.04; vitamin B-2, 0.05; vitamin C, 15mg. and carotene (equivalent to vitamin A 10, 520 I.U.). The protein content tends to decrease and the total carbohydrate content, to increase with growth (Food Processes and Analyses, Mohammad Yunus, BARC, Dhaka, 47).

Properties and Uses: Carrot is a coronary vasodilator, antimicrobial and used in leprosy, piles, biliousness, tumours, asthma, hiccup, bronchitis, urinary complaints, jaundice, griping and inflammation of spleen. It is also used as a carminative, stomachic, cardiotonic, diuretic, antidysenteric and aphrodisiac. Seeds are aphrodisiac, nervine tonic and used in dropsy, kidney and menstrual diseases. The seed oil gives positive test for glycoside, produces hypotensive effects, depresses respiration and relaxes smooth muscles. The oil also shows antifertility properties and anthelmintic activity against earthworm comparable to that of piperizine citrate (Medicinal Plants of Bangladesh, Abdul Ghani, Second Edition, 204).

Medicinal Properties: Carrot is also rich in medicinal properties. It is sweet, sharp, bitter; gives appetite; astringent to the bowels, antidysenteric, carminative, cardiotonic; cures leprosy, piles, pains, burning sensation, thirst, biliousness, tumours; good for inflammation, asthma, hiccough; corrects foul breath (Ayurveda). The carrot has a sweet, good taste, slightly bitter; tonic, aphrodisiac, expectorant, diuretic, stomachic, good for the liver; used in bronchitis and chest troubles, urinary complaints; lessens griping and inflammation of the spleen. for external use the leaves are preferable. The wild carrot is laxative (Yunani).

The seeds are considered to be a nervine tonic; boiled with honey and fermented, they produced a spirituous liquor. A decoction of the leaves and seeds is said to be used by natives as a stimulant to the uterus during parturition. The roots; are made into a marmalade and considered refrigerant. In the Punjab, the seeds are considered aphrodisiac, and given in uterine pain. In the Konkan, a poultice of carrots and salt is used in tetter, and the seeds are eaten as an aphrodisiac. The fruits are recommended in chronic diarrhoea. They are said to be diuretic. A poultice made of the roots is used to correct the discharge from in-conditioned sores. The raw rasped root is also deemed useful as a stimulating application, and is made into an ointment with lard. This is much used in burns and scalds to good effect. The raw carrot when eaten acts as a mechanical anthelmintic. At Khawas in Baluchistan the seeds of the wild carrot may serve as an emetic (Hughes-Buller). A decoction of carrot is a popular remedy for jaundice in Europe. Rasped carrot is applied to burns and foul ulcers. In Indo China, carrots are eaten raw and cooked to regulate the functions of the stomach and intestines.; in combination with other drugs they are used for dysentery. The Europeans of South Africa used a decoction of the common carrot for infantile diarrhoea (Indian Medicinal Plants, Vol. II, Kirt. & B.D. Basu, 1229-30)

Medicine: An infusion of carrot has long been used as a folk remedy for thread worms. Carrot increases the quantity of urine and helps the elimination of uric acid. The addition of large amounts of carrot to the diet has favourable effect on the nitrogen balance. An amorphous yellow fraction is obtained from petrol ether extracts of dried carrots. This fraction when dissolved in almond oil and injected into men, rabbits or dogs causes a marked reduction in blood sugar without other noticeable effects. Scrapped root is used as a local stimulant for indolent ulcers (D.S.D., 1385)

Carrot seeds are aromatic, stimulant and carminative. They are reported to be useful in diseases of the kidney and in dropsy (Chopra, 482; Kirt. & Basu, II, 1229). Carrot seeds are considered a nervine tonic. Boiled with honey and fermented, they produce a spirituous liquor. A decoction of the leaves and seeds is said to be used as a stimulant to the uterus during parturition.

The roots are made into a marmalade which is considered refrigerant. Dr. Dymock writes that "in the Concan a poultice of carrots and salt is used in tetter, and the seeds are eaten as an aphrodisiac." Formerly the carrot seeds (fruits) were used in European medical practice, and they are so still in America. They possess aromatic, stimulant and carminative properties, and were used in disease of the kidney, flatulent colic and dropsy.

A poultice made of the roots is even at the present day resorted in domestic medicine, to correct the discharge from ill-conditioned sores. The raw rasped root is also deemed useful as a stimulating application, and is made into an ointment with lard. This is used in burns and scalds to good effect. Pickled-carrots are much lauded by Persian writers as a cure for spleen. In the American dispensatory it is stated that the wild root may be substituted for the seeds.

Special Opinions: "The crushed roots form the vehicle for many medicines used by native hakims, and have the reputation of having tonic properties." (Narain Misser, Kothe Bazar Dispensary, Hoshangabad, Central Provinces). "The raw carrot when eaten acts as a mechanical anthelmintic" (Surgeon-Major D.R. Thomson, M.D., C.I.E., Surgeon, 1st district, Madras).

"Poultice of the root is useful in chronic and foetid ulcers" (Surgeon-Major George Cumberland Ross, Delhi). "Boiled and given to cattle with the view of making them fat" (Assistant Surgeon Annund Chunder Mookerji, Noakhally). "The seeds are used to bring about abortion. The roots are used as poultice" (Surgeon-Major Robb, Civil Surgeon, Ahmedabad). "Used in dysentery and enlargement of spleen (John Mc Conaghy, M.D., Civl Surgeon, Shahjahanpore.) (Dictionary of the Economic Products of India)