Overview
•Women continue to be disproportionately affected by multiple risk factors related to HIV/STI transmission
•Gender-specific prevention is needed
•Cross-cultural collaborations can promote more rapid development and dissemination
•Social workers play a key role in developing, promoting, sustaining best evidence programs.
Background information
•HIV prevalence low; other indicators high
•Poverty, economy, geography, misogyny
–Disproportionate unemployment among women
•Increased survival sex work among women caring for dependent children and parents
•Increasing alcohol use, lack of treatment, lack of alternative employment options, high degree of stigma and isolation
Literature on sex work and violence
- Wahab (2005) reported a 50% to 100% prevalence rate of violence in sex work.
- Women at risk from paying partners, managers, police, and intimate partners
- Types of violence include harassment, physical assault, forced confinement, violence with a weapon and rape
- Violence particularly common when there are few legal protections (Blankenship & Koester, 2002; Rekart, 2006).
