The recent appearance of massage parlours began in 1995, with ethnic minority groups such as the Wa running such businesses in particular.
[6] Throughout the country, the sex industry generally operates out of restaurants, brothels posing as guesthouses, and nightclubs.
[7] Since Cyclone Nargis hit in May 2008, the number of prostitutes in Yangon has increased significantly, thus lowering prices for sexual services.
Mandalay has many prostitutes working in massage parlours, KTV lounges, stage shows and on the streets.
[8] A red-light district has also emerged in Naypyidaw, Burma's new national capital, with brothels primarily disguised as beauty parlors and massage salons that attract mainly businessmen and military personnel.
[9] Approximately 70 brothels, mostly in the form of tents and bamboo huts, operate a cheap red light zone on a 30-mile stretch of highway to Naypyidaw.
[9] In all of Southeast Asia Burma is by far the cheapest when securing the services of a prostitute eclipsing even the choice and price in Laos.
[13] The Act also criminalises making financial gain from prostitution, including the sex worker's own earnings.
The Child Law, enacted in 1993, raised the age of consensual sex to 16 and made prostitution of children illegal.
It is an offence to knowingly allow a girl younger than sixteen years of age under one's guardianship to engage in prostitution.
[8] Currently (2018), the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement are working on amendments to the law in order to protect sex workers.
The structuring features of the Cantonment Acts provided for about twelve to fifteen Indian women for each regiment of British soldiers.
[20] The Cantonment Act of 1864, originally meant for military bases, was eventually extended to the Presidencies and Provinces of British India.
[24] According to some accounts, Burma had the largest thriving prostitution industry in British India because of the economic crisis.
[26] Various campaigns have taken place by the government, NGO and international organisation to raise awareness of HIV, to give greater access to healthcare and improve treatment of those infected.
Some Myanma women, and children who migrate for work abroad, particularly to Thailand and China, as well as other countries in Asia, the Middle East, and the United States, are subjected sex trafficking.