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Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
Time: 12:29 am
Time: 12:29 am
Results for sex workers (south africa)
1 results foundAuthor: Sex Worker Education and Advocacy Taskforce (SWEAT) Title: Estimating the Size of the Sex Worker Population in South Africa, 2013 Summary: The South African National AIDS Council (SANAC) is tasked with coordinating the country's response to HIV, TB and STIs across all government departments and civil society sectors, monitoring the implementation of the National Strategic Plan (NSP) aimed at responding to these three epidemics; as well as mobilising resources for the effective functioning of SANAC and the implementation of the NSP. SANAC recognises that, like the rest of the South African population where 5.6 million people are estimated to be living with HIV, sex workers are at a much higher risk of HIV, TB and STIs compared to the general population. As a result, it is important for our country to have programmes specifically tailor-made to target the health needs of this sector of society. In this light, the SANAC Secretariat is working with the SANAC Sex Worker Sector and numerous organisations providing advocacy and services for sex workers to establish a national programme for HIV prevention among sex workers and their clients and partners. Sex workers are highly vulnerable to HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) due to multiple factors, including large numbers of sex partners, unsafe working conditions and barriers to the negotiation of consistent condom use. Moreover, sex workers often have little control over these factors because of social marginalisation and the restricted legal framework under which they are forced to work. Alcohol, drug use and violence further exacerbate their vulnerability and risk. HIV prevalence rates amongst female sex workers are thought to be as high as 59.6%1, compared to 13.3% amongst women in the general population. This calls for an urgent scaled-up, coordinated national HIV prevention programme for sex workers. However, when designing targeted interventions as part of an expanded and comprehensive response to HIV and AIDS, reliable information is required on the size of high-risk population groups such as this one. While South Africa is able to measure the level of risk behaviour and HIV and STI infection in sex workers, there is limited data to give an indication of the absolute size of this sub-population. Recognising this as a limitation, SANAC commissioned a sex worker size estimation study, and the results are presented in this report. The work was carried out by multiple partners under the leadership of the Sex Worker Education and Advocacy Task Force (SWEAT). Up until now, there have been various estimates of the number of sex workers in the country. The inaccuracy of these figures has proven to be a hindrance for programme planning and implementation. No concerted effort had ever been made to estimate the total size of the sex worker population in the country. This survey marks a new chapter in South Africa’s response to HIV and AIDS. It will provide the government and other stakeholders with data to make evidence-based decisions on how to create an enabling environment for the provision and accessibility of preventive services for sex workers in South Africa. The findings of this sex worker population size estimate will lead to concerted efforts for the design of comprehensive programming, implementation and monitoring and evaluation of targeted intervention programmes. Details: Observatory, South Africa: SWEAT, 2015. 40p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 21, 2015 at: http://www.health-e.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Sex-Workers-Size-Estimation-2013.pdf Year: 2015 Country: South Africa URL: http://www.health-e.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Sex-Workers-Size-Estimation-2013.pdf Shelf Number: 134431 Keywords: HIV (Viruses)ProstitutesProstitutionSex Workers (South Africa) |