Kesshite
25-01-2007, 03:56
Kesshite Chronicles special report: HIV Epidemic Reaches Kesshite
Ahquilcho, or 'cho to her friends, is turning fifteen next month. This dark-eyed, attractive young woman is quick to smile and friends with many patrons at the Altaih teahouse. She is also one of the many young prostitutes in Atzco o Inqaic who has recently been tested, and found positive, for the AIDS virus. In a sweep of Inqaic's docks district, 35 men and women were found to be carrying the virus. The majority had no knowledge of it, and had never heard the term HIV before.
"What we're seeing is only the beginning of a trend that, given the situation here, we expect to become a serious problem in the Kesshite's future," said WHO advisor Doug Miller.
What is the situation? Kesshite's continued lack of institutions such as local clinics or public school to spread information on AIDS and other STDs, the lack of available testing facilities, and traditional contraceptive methods that do nothing to stop the spread of diseases. Moreover, the lack of modern healthcare means those with the virus receive none of the expensive medicines and treatments available to citizens in developed countries.
"We are doing the best we can with the resources available to us," says Minister Kyiam, "The city militia of Inqaic is being educated about the risks of HIV infection, and will be part of a program to spread this information to the common people. The WHO has sent in doctors who can collect blood samples and have them tested in DS. They've also been working with the temples on how to handle blood-born pathogens, and patients who may be infected."
"Disease is an unfortunate part of all of our lives. While there is no magic bullet, if we work together, we can slow the spread of this plague."
The best the city can do isn't enough for some citizens of Kesshite, however.
Says Talym of the Ayi teahouse, "This is what happens when we let foreigners into the land. Before we ending isolation, sicknesses were a problem but never like this. It is not just this HIV, all sorts of diseases are making there way into Kesshite. Dockworkers fall ill all the time due to interaction with foreigners. We need to return to the way things were. Sticking our head in the sand will only make things worse!"
Others say that foreigners are not the problem, but Kesshite culture itself.
"The teahouses need to be shut down. The Night Court needs to be eliminated," says Kain, a lightbringer of the Goddess Cathedral, "And it's not just prostitution that threatens Kesshite's health. Sexual wickedness runs rampant throughout society. The government refuses to take necessary action because they are the most debauched people in this country. Kesshite must become a nation of devotion, abstinence, and purity if we are to remove this plague from our midst."
For Ahquilcho, the situation seems unreal. After her test turned out positive, officials shut down the teahouse, a move some suggest will only make the notorious semi-legal establishments even less willing to cooperate with the government. Ahquilcho is now living in a temple of the Emerald Mother.
"They say I'm sick," she said, "but I feel fine. I don't understand how this happened. I was only with clean men - nice men. People tell me that if I sleep with someone else I could kill them. They keep me away from the sick people in the temple. This seems unfair. I haven't done anything wrong."
Ahquilcho, or 'cho to her friends, is turning fifteen next month. This dark-eyed, attractive young woman is quick to smile and friends with many patrons at the Altaih teahouse. She is also one of the many young prostitutes in Atzco o Inqaic who has recently been tested, and found positive, for the AIDS virus. In a sweep of Inqaic's docks district, 35 men and women were found to be carrying the virus. The majority had no knowledge of it, and had never heard the term HIV before.
"What we're seeing is only the beginning of a trend that, given the situation here, we expect to become a serious problem in the Kesshite's future," said WHO advisor Doug Miller.
What is the situation? Kesshite's continued lack of institutions such as local clinics or public school to spread information on AIDS and other STDs, the lack of available testing facilities, and traditional contraceptive methods that do nothing to stop the spread of diseases. Moreover, the lack of modern healthcare means those with the virus receive none of the expensive medicines and treatments available to citizens in developed countries.
"We are doing the best we can with the resources available to us," says Minister Kyiam, "The city militia of Inqaic is being educated about the risks of HIV infection, and will be part of a program to spread this information to the common people. The WHO has sent in doctors who can collect blood samples and have them tested in DS. They've also been working with the temples on how to handle blood-born pathogens, and patients who may be infected."
"Disease is an unfortunate part of all of our lives. While there is no magic bullet, if we work together, we can slow the spread of this plague."
The best the city can do isn't enough for some citizens of Kesshite, however.
Says Talym of the Ayi teahouse, "This is what happens when we let foreigners into the land. Before we ending isolation, sicknesses were a problem but never like this. It is not just this HIV, all sorts of diseases are making there way into Kesshite. Dockworkers fall ill all the time due to interaction with foreigners. We need to return to the way things were. Sticking our head in the sand will only make things worse!"
Others say that foreigners are not the problem, but Kesshite culture itself.
"The teahouses need to be shut down. The Night Court needs to be eliminated," says Kain, a lightbringer of the Goddess Cathedral, "And it's not just prostitution that threatens Kesshite's health. Sexual wickedness runs rampant throughout society. The government refuses to take necessary action because they are the most debauched people in this country. Kesshite must become a nation of devotion, abstinence, and purity if we are to remove this plague from our midst."
For Ahquilcho, the situation seems unreal. After her test turned out positive, officials shut down the teahouse, a move some suggest will only make the notorious semi-legal establishments even less willing to cooperate with the government. Ahquilcho is now living in a temple of the Emerald Mother.
"They say I'm sick," she said, "but I feel fine. I don't understand how this happened. I was only with clean men - nice men. People tell me that if I sleep with someone else I could kill them. They keep me away from the sick people in the temple. This seems unfair. I haven't done anything wrong."