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Centers for Change: Drop-In Centers Facilitate Sex Worker-Led Human Rights Advocacy

Drop-in centers are often the only places where sex workers can access health care, legal counseling, and other direct services. They also provide a safe space for sex workers to congregate, document abuses, and mobilize for advocacy. The role of drop-in centers is critical given the extreme and rampant violations of sex workers’ human rights in most places around the world. Common violations include physical and sexual violence, unsafe and unjust working conditions, extortion, and lack of access to justice, health care, social welfare, and other services. The Open Society Foundations interviewed staff from seven drop-in centers in six countries

Debating the right to sell sex in Switzerland

To imagine a society without prostitution is utopian. Those who are willing to offer their own bodies in exchange for money must be allowed to do so without being stigmatised or punished. This is the view put forward by Terre des Femmes Switzerland, an organisation that campaigns for the rights of women. Claudine Esseiva, general-secretary of the women’s section of the centre-right Radical Party, sees things the same way. “Banning prostitution means relegating it to the shadows, beyond all control,” she told swissinfo.ch. In Switzerland, prostitution has been legal since 1942. When carried out voluntarily, it is considered a form

Effects of periodic presumptive treatment on three bacterial sexually transmissible infections and HIV among female sex workers in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.

Sexually transmissible infections (STI) are common in female sex workers (FSW). AIM: To determine if 3-monthly periodic presumptive treatments (PPT) would reduce the prevalence of STI in FSW. METHODS: In a cohort study conducted between November 2003 and September 2004, FSW were enrolled, counselled and interviewed. Informed consent was obtained. Testing by using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for Chlamydia trachomatis (Ct), Neisseria gonorrhoeae (Ng) and Trichomonas vaginalis (Tv), and serology for HIV were performed at baseline and final follow-up visits. Each FSW received 3-monthly oral amoxicillin, probenecid, a combination of amoxicillin and clavulanic acid, and azithromycin. Tinidazole was administered once.

Making the Case for Laws that Improve Health: A Framework for Public Health Law Research

Public health law has received considerable attention in recent years and is assuming the role of an essential field within public health. Public health law research has received less attention. This paper explores the boundaries and promise of public health law research, defined as the scientific study of the relation of law and legal practices to population health. The paper offers a logic model of public health law research and a typology of approaches for studying the effects of law on public health. Research on the content and prevalence of public health laws; processes of adopting and implementing laws; and

Control of sexually transmitted infections and prevention of HIV transmission: mending a fractured paradigm

In many countries, basic STI services are in disarray as programme resources are determined by decisions relating to a single disease entity. Such a fractured paradigm is as counterproductive for HIV as it is for other STIs. Major HIV epidemics emerged from and spread rapidly under conditions of poor STI control, and further weakening of STI control may well undermine other HIV prevention efforts. Yet experience of countries as diverse as Cambodia, Kenya, Senegal, Sri Lanka and Thailand demonstrate that wider STI control is feasible and that HIV prevention can be strengthened in doing so.

Structural Violence and Structural Vulnerability Within the Risk Environment: Theoretical and Methodological Perspectives for a Social Epidemiology of HIV Risk Among Injection Drug Users and Sex Workers

An article in Rethinking Social Epidemiology 2012, Part 3, 205-230. The transmission of HIV is shaped by individual-environment interactions. Social epidemiologic approaches thus seek to capture the dynamic and reciprocal relationships of individual-environment interactions in the production and reduction of risk. This presents considerable methodological, theoretical and disciplinary challenges. Drawing upon four research case studies, we consider how methods and concepts in the social and epidemiologic sciences might be brought together towards understanding HIV risk as an effect of social, cultural and political condition. The case studies draw upon different combinations of methods (qualitative, ethnographic and quantitative) and disciplines (sociology,

Prevalence of HIV and sexually transmitted infections among clients of female sex workers in Karnataka, India: a cross-sectional study

Background: Studies have demonstrated the significance of commercial sex work in the ongoing transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in India. Clients of female sex workers (FSWs) are thought to be an important bridging population for HIV/STIs. However, there is a lack of information on basic characteristics of sex work clients. This study sought to describe the prevalence of HIV and other STIs, as well as examine the determinants of these pathogens among a sample of clients in south India. Methods: Data were from a cross-sectional biological and behavioural survey of FSW clients from six districts in

The International Association for the Study of Sexuality, Culture and Society 2011 Conference: A summary of the content related to sex work

The theme of the conference was the multiple ways that equality and inequality are articulated through sexuality. The meeting explored diverse situations and issues of (in)equality with regard to sexuality in the global arena, bringing together researchers, advocates, policymakers and practitioners to critically share their strategies and challenges that inform and inspire new forms of action and thinking about sexuality. There were many papers that covered issues of curiosity to sex work researchers – particularly in relation to the connections between sexuality and the economy. We are unable to highlight all of the papers that may be of interest from

Chinese Government Detains Sex Worker Activist Calling for the Decriminalisation of Sex Work: Statement from the NSWP

On Monday August 2, 2010 police in Beijing detained Ye Haiyan, an activist with community based organisation the China Women’s Rights Workshop, after she joined other sex workers in publicly petitioning for the Chinese government to decriminalise prostitution. The Global Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP) stands in solidarity with Ye Haiyan, human rights defenders, and sex workers who speak up against stigma, discrimination, and the criminalisation of our livelihoods Criminalisation of sex workers, their clients and sex businesses drives the sex industry underground, making it more difficult for sex workers to access services – making them more vulnerable to

Beyond accountability: learning from large-scale evaluations

An article in the Lancet published online, October 11, 2011, which provides a useful overview of the evaluation of the Avahan HIV prevention programme which was rolled out across six states in India. The authors explain the methodology behind the evaluation: “The investigators took a fairly simple approach, focusing on two variables: the amount of money disbursed to the districts that are part of Avahan, as an indicator of intervention intensity; and HIV prevalence among pregnant women attending antenatal care, as an indicator of population trends in HIV infection. Applying a range of analytical approaches to assess the association between

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