Sex Work And Health Seeking Behaviour Among HIV Positive FSW,Karnataka

The utilization of HIV services especially in Government facilities is affected by stigma and FSWs in the 3 districts of northern Karnataka using a structured questionnaire. The list of HIV Positive FSWs was organized by stratification, and 607 positive FSWs were selected using a discrimination among HIV positive female sex workers (FSWs) in Karnataka. To our knowledge, there is no quantitative study on this issue. This is a cross-sectional quantitative survey of HIV positive systematic random selection. The data were analyzed using statistical methods. Half of the sex worke traditional (devadasi, dedicated to the temple), 22% are widowed and the mean age is 33 years. The FSWs practice sex work on an average 13 days a month with 2.3 clients per day and was in sex work for about 13 years. Almost all of them (97%) used condom with the clients they had on the last day of sex work. About 74% were ever registered in the ART center and 47% of them reported being ever on ART, of which 6% dropped out. the study may be limited by the fact that majority of the FSWs entered into sex work through the traditional devadasi system, which may not be the case in other parts of India.