"Rise in HIV/AIDS cases in Laos tied to dam and mine projects, NGO official says", 20 February 2025

Young Lao women are contracting HIV/AIDS after selling sex to some of the thousands of workers who have come into the country in recent years to work on Chinese-funded projects like mines and hydroelectric power dams, an NGO director told Radio Free Asia.

The rising trend has also been spotted in the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone, a gambling and tourism hub catering to Chinese visitors in northern Bokeo province that has earned a reputation as a haven for criminal activities, including prostitution.

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Additionally, a large potash mine in central Khammouane province that employs several thousand Chinese laborers has drawn impoverished young women looking to sell sex, sources told RFA last year.

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