Situating HIV Risk in the Lives of Formerly Trafficked Female Sex Workers on the Mexico-US Border

Due to stigma and the psychosocial repercussions of past trauma and abuse, survivors of sex trafficking may experience increased susceptibility to violence, revictimization, and various harmful health outcomes, including HIV infection. Given the paucity of research characterizing the experiences of formerly trafficked female sex workers (FSWs), we set out to describe and contextualize perceptions of HIV risk among women who have experienced past episodes of sex trafficking and who are currently engaged in sex work in Tijuana, Mexico. 

Based on semi-structured interviews and ethnographic fieldwork, we describe the following interrelated themes as influencing formerly trafficked FSWs' perceptions and experiences of HIV risk: 

• economic vulnerability; 
• susceptibility to violence; 
• and psychological trauma. 

Our findings highlight the need for HIV prevention efforts to incorporate broader structural and social interventions aimed at reducing vulnerability to violence and human rights abuses among this population and improving their general economic, psychological, and social well-being.

Read more at: http://ht.ly/S78VQ 

By: Shane P. Collins, MS,a Shira M. Goldenberg, PhD,b,* Nancy J. Burke, PhD,c Ietza Bojorquez, MD, PhD,d Jay G. Silverman, PhD,b and Steffanie A. Strathdee, PhDb

^bDivision of Global Public Health, University of California, San Diego, USA

^cHelen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center and Department of Anthropology, History, and Social Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, USA

^d

^bDivision of Global Public Health, University of California, San Diego, USA

^cHelen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center and Department of Anthropology, History, and Social Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, USA

^d

^b

aGlobal Health Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, USA
bDivision of Global Public Health, University of California, San Diego, USA
cHelen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center and Department of Anthropology, History, and Social Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, USA
dEl Colegio de la Frontera Norte, Tijuana, Mexico

aGlobal Health Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, USA

aGlobal Health Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, USA

aGlobal Health Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, USA