The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #49421

Ravi K Verma, PhD, Population Council, Horizons, 53, Lodhi Estate, New Delhi, 110003, India, 011-4610913, raviverma@pcindia.org, Saritha Nair, Department of Extra Mural Studies, International Institute for Population Sciences Deonar Mumbai 400088, Govandi Station Road, Mumbai 400088, India, and Johannes Van Dam, HORIZONS, HORIZONS/Population Council, 4301 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suit 280, Washington DC, WA 20008.

Background: Sex workers are prone to STDs due to their occupation. Understanding the determining factors is an important aspect of prevention. Methods:166 female street sex workers were chosen from Thiruvananthapuram city of Kerala. Structured qualitative and quantitative techniques were employed, followed by a clinical examination by a gynaecologist. Result: Three-fifths of the sex workers reported symptoms of one or the other STDs, which was in coherence with the clinical findings. 50% had consulted either a doctor or a dispensary for treatment. The paper examines the predictive value as well as the level of agreement between these community- based methodologies of detecting STIs. The factors significantly associated with the risk of infection are condom usage, years into work, regular use of alcohol, mental health, awareness of diseases, and association with intervention projects. Among these, condom usage was a significant predictor variable. Conclusion: Association with intervention programmes might be the major reason for lower than expected STD prevalence among the study population. In addition to increasing awareness and stressing on to condom usage, attempt should also be made to create an enabling environment where in sex workers would be able to work without fear of coercion. Measures should be taken to sensitize people interacting with sex workers. This might increase their sense of security and self-esteem, thus helping sex workers to create a sustained behaviour change.

Learning Objectives:

• 1. Describes the street sex workers and their experiences in a city in India.
• 2. Discusses the procedure for examining the prevalence and the factors associated with STIS in street sex workers
• 3. Develop community based methodologies of assessing STIs in street sex workers in poor resource set ups.

Keywords: Sex Workers, Reproductive Morbidity

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.