A human rights-focused HIV intervention for sex workers in Metro Manila, Philippines: evaluation of effects in a quantitative pilot study

Abstract

This study evaluated a brief human rights-focused HIV community mobilization intervention for sex workers in the Philippines, a country with one of the fastest rising number of HIV cases worldwide. Five single-session group interventions to reduce sexual risk and increase HIV testing among 86 sex workers in Manila were evaluated with pre-post-test data via Wilcoxon's signed-ranks and Mann-Whitney tests. The 4-h intervention, Kapihan (August-November, 2013), integrated human rights with HIV skill-building. Demographic data, violence/trafficking victimization, human rights knowledge, and intentions to HIV test and treat were collected. Participants were median aged 23; female (69%); had children (55; 22% had 3+children); used drugs (past 3months: 16%); sexually/physically abused by clients (66%); 20% street sex workers ever took an HIV test. Pre-post-test scores significantly improved in knowledge of HIV (z=-8.895, p<0.001), reproductive health (z=-3.850, p<0.001), human rights (z=-4.391, p<0.001), ethical rights of research participants (z=-5.081, p<0.001), and intentions to HIV test (z=-4.868, p<0.001). Integrating human rights into HIV interventions may empower sex workers to address their health and human rights and test for HIV.