Prostitutes get health care
The week's news at a glance.
Tallinn, Estonia
Estonia’s capital city, Tallinn, announced this week that it was offering free medical checkups to all prostitutes in an effort to stop the spread of AIDS. The number of Estonian citizens known to be infected with HIV topped 2,500 last year. That may not sound like much, but Estonia has a population of less than 1.4 million. That puts the country’s rate of infection at more than one in every 1,000 people—20 times the average for European Union countries. Health centers said they would treat any woman or girl who said she was turning tricks. “We assume that people are not going to lie about being prostitutes,” one clinic director told the daily Postimees.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
‘The worry is far from fanciful’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
How are Americans bracing for the end of SNAP?TODAY'S BIG QUESTION Millions depend on supplemental federal food funds that are set to expire this month, as the government shutdown begins to be acutely felt
-
Book review: ‘Joyride: A Memoir’Feature A journalist’s story of how she chased and accomplished her dreams