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A study by Dr. Prabhat Jha, a public
health professor at the University of Toronto, and colleagues showed that HIV
prevention programs for female sex workers in southern India resulted in a
reduction in incidence of HIV as well as sexually transmitted infections
(STIs). The study examined the impact of more than 868 prevention programs for
female sex workers from 1995 to 2008. The programs provided sex workers with
lubricated condoms and STI treatment. The country’s National AIDS Control
Organization (NACO) sponsored and carried out many of the programs, but
nongovernmental organizations also provided funding in some areas.
The researchers estimated that
programs reached approximately 500,000 sex workers, most of whom lived in the
four southern and western states: Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and
Tamil Nadu. Only 30 percent of the population lives in these states, but they
account for 60 percent of the country’s HIV patients.
Researchers reviewed data on STI
trends in pregnant women ages 15–24, regardless of their status as sex workers.
The results showed that HIV levels fell by 40 percent in young pregnant women
between 2003 and 2008. Jha and colleagues also found that syphilis rates fell
by 70 percent in pregnant women during the same period. The researchers
reviewed financial data to determine spending on programs. India’s NACO spent
approximately $420 million since 1999 on prevention programs for sex workers
and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation donated $250 million since 2004. However,
results showed no correlation between funding and disease rates. Researchers
concluded that programs did not have to be expensive to be effective.
The full report, “Female Sex Work
Interventions and Changes in HIV and Syphilis Infection Risks from 2003 to 2008
in India: A Repeated Cross-Sectional Study, was published in the journal BMJ
Open (2013; 3:e002724 doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2013-002724).
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is
dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and
empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV
virus.
To learn more about The Friends of
AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
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