Prevention And Treatment Of Hiv And Other Sexually Transmitted Infections For Sex Workers In Low And Middle Income Countries PDF Download

"Sex workers in many places 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 marginalization and criminalized work environments. Alcohol, drug use and violence in some settings may further exacerbate their vulnerability and risk. Acquisition of HIV and other STIs are important occupational hazards of sex work. Clients can infect sex workers who may transmit infection to other clients and from them to their sex partners. Preventing infection among sex workers thus has the potential to both improve the health of individual sex workers as well as to slow HIV and STI transmission among wider populations. Early interventions in countries as diverse as Brazil, India, Kenya and Thailand have succeeded reducing STI transmission in sex work by increasing condom use, leading to improved health outcomes for sex workers and rapid control of HIV and STI epidemics. The objective of the guidance document, Prevention and treatment of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections for sex workers in low- and middle- income countries, is to provide technical recommendations on effective interventions for the prevention and treatment of HIV and other STIs among sex workers and their clients. The guidelines are designed for use by national public health officials and managers of HIV/AIDS and STI programmes, nongovernmental organizations including community and civil society organizations, and health workers. These guidelines may also be of interest to international funding agencies, the scientific media, health policy-makers and advocates. The World Health Organization led the development of the guidelines in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS and the Global Network of Sex Work Projects. The Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) methodology was followed to ensure a structured, explicit and transparent approach to assessing the evidence and building consensus on the recommendations. Three independent researchers conducted systematic reviews and rated the quality of evidence related to (1) sex worker empowerment, (2) STI screening and (3) periodic presumptive treatment of STIs. Systematic reviews or related guidelines were available for other questions, including condom use, voluntary counselling and testing, antiretroviral therapy, needle-syringe programming and vaccination for hepatitis B virus. GRADE evidence profiles were developed to summarize the quality and strength of evidence for each question. The Global Network of Sex Work Projects conducted a qualitative survey on sex worker values and preferences related to the interventions being considered in the guidelines."--Page [1].