Knowledge and prevalence of sexually transmitted infections among female sex workers in Ahmedabad city.
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Date
2014-03
Authors
Patel, Vaibhavi
Puwar, Bhavna
Vyas, Sheetal
Oza, Umesh
Kapoor, Rachna
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Abstract
Background & objectives: Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) continue to present major health, social and economic problems especially amongst Female Sex Workers (FSWs). Objectives : 1. To assess the knowledge of STIs among FSWs. 2. To find the prevalence of STIs among them and correlate it with various variable. Study method: A cross sectional study was carried out in the two Targeted Intervention areas working in the Ahmedabad city covering 10% of their total registered population. Results: Total 353 FWSs were covered. The mean age was 32.85+ 7.6 years. Majority was married and either illiterate or educated up to primary standards. Most common symptom of STI known to FSWs was Genital ulcer (67%) and 170 (48%) of FSWs had suffered from STI in last one year, out of them 128(75%) had taken the treatment. Eighty percent FSWs had consistently used condom in last 1 year. Risk of getting STI in 30 to 35 years age group was more than the overall risk (OR>1). The risk of STI was 7.85 times and 2.87 times more amongst the FSWs having duration of sex work < 10 years and those not using condom consistently, respectively. The difference of treatment seeking behavior with duration of sex work and knowledge of STI was highly significant (p<0.001). Conclusions: Knowledge of symptoms of STI was high. Although the condom use was claimed by the respondents still half of them suffered from STIs in last one year.
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Keywords
Condom use, Female Sex Workers, Sexually Transmitted Infections
Citation
Patel Vaibhavi, Puwar Bhavna, Vyas Sheetal, Oza Umesh, Kapoor Rachna. Knowledge and prevalence of sexually transmitted infections among female sex workers in Ahmedabad city. National Journal of Integrated Research in Medicine. 2014 Mar-Apr; 5(2): 86-90.