Background
In
response to the high burden of disease among sex workers and their position as
a population heavily affected by the HIV epidemic, there has been a growing
body of literature investigating the prevalence and risk factors associated
with HIV risk among sex workers. To contextualize and summarize the existing
research evidence base, a systematic review was conducted to synthesize the
epidemiological literature on sex workers in Uganda.
Methods
Database
selection and search strategy development followed the Cochrane Collaboration’s
standards for conducting systematic review searches. All studies that included
sex workers as the primary research participants were included in the review.
The search was then geographically restricted to the country of Uganda. Items
were identified from 18 databases (grey and peer-review) on March 10–11, 2015.
Results
A
total of 484 articles were retrieved from the database search. After removal of
duplicates, a total of 353 articles were screened for eligibility and 64
full-text articles were assessed. The final review included 24 studies with
quantitative methodology conducted among sex workers in Uganda.
- The HIV prevalence among female sex workers ranged from 32.4 – 52.0%
- and between 8.2 – 9.0% had multiple HIV infections.
- Both multi-drug resistance to antiretroviral therapy (2.6 %) and antibiotics (83.1 %) were observed.
- Between 33.3 – 55.1 % reported inconsistent condom use in the past month.
- In the previous 6 months, over 80% of sex workers experienced client-perpetrated violence
- and 18% experienced intimate partner violence.
- Over 30% had a history of extreme war-related trauma.
Conclusions
There
was limited information on socio-structural factors that affect sex workers’
commercial working environments in Uganda, including the role of policing and
criminalization, as well as the prevalence and factors associated with violence.
The majority of the existing evidence is based in Kampala, highlighting a need
for information on sex work in other regions of Uganda. Additionally, there is
limited information on features of the non-commercial components of sex
workers’ lives as well as the services needed to reduce risks outside of the
sex industry.
Full article at:
By:
School of Population and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine,
University of British Columbia, 2206 East Mall, Vancouver V6T 1Z9, BC, Canada
Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, University of Ottawa, 501
Smyth Road, Ottawa K1H 8L6, ON, Canada
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