UNAIDS says Zimbabwe needs to scale up its AIDS management programmes on sex workers whose HIV prevalence is skyrocketing .

The organisations Zimbabwe coordinator Michael Bartos told delegates attending a the 2015 International Conference on HIV/AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) in Africa (ICASA) on key populations in Harare HIV incidence among sex workers stands at 10% .

According to statistics there are 52,214 sex workers throughout the country.

Out of the 52,214 sex workers 26,090 of them have tested for Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs)), and 10,922 have tested positive for HIV.

An NGO which advocates for sexual health rights, the Centre for Sexual Health and HIV AIDS Research recently revealed that that at least 20 percent of sex workers are HIV positive.

The NGO recommended that government should include this key sector in the country’s HIV and Aids programming if it is to reduce new infections which fuel the pandemic at a time the world is striving to end AIDS.

“The current HIV incidents among sex workers in Zimbabwe and principally female sex workers is 10% and what that translates to is that for every whole hoard of sex workers there is a chance of fewer of them being HIV negative and this very high and enormous,”

He said his organisation remains committed to funding research in key populations.

“For progress towards ending AIDS to be achieved health programmers should locate the affected communities identify, acknowledge and recognise them, “he said.

Bartos said research to establish the real number of Men who have sex with Men is also crucial for the country’s HIV management.

Zimbabwe is one the African countries which criminalise gay activities and sex work and this has made it difficult for organisations which represent these key population groups from researching on HIV related issues.

Albeit the criminalisation of their activities Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ) recently conducted a research which revealed that at least 50% of their members where HIV positive.

In a study the organisation carried did in partnership with local partners and SADC member states, in five sites (383) it emerged that there was 23.5% HIV prevalence among Men who have Sex with Men HIV prevalence and (179) 32.6% for Woman who have Sex with Women (WSW) .

As of last year (2014), GALZ had a known number of 2273 (MSM) and 380 (WSW) throughout the country.