Assessing Targeted AIDS Prevention in Male and Female Prostitutes and their Clients

Abstract

Prostitution can be defined as the exchange of sexual services for money or things of monetary value, such as drugs (1). Prostitution can play a role in the transmission of sexually transmitted agents, such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). One of the first reports of HIV antibody in female prostitutes suggested extremely high rates of infection. According to evidence reported from Ngoma, Rwanda, in 1985, 29 (88%) of 33 female prostitutes who had been seen at a sexually transmitted disease (STD) clinic and 7 (28%) of 25 male clients of female prostitutes were infected with HIV (2). This chapter presents the following points: 1) to describe the prevalence of HIV antibody in prostitutes and their clients tested in different parts of the world during 1985–1989; 2) to present public health interventions that might interrupt HIV transmission to and from prostitutes; and 3) to look at the effects of various interventions on self-reported sexual and preventive health behaviors, HIV seroprevalence, and the incidence of HIV or other sexually transmitted infections.KeywordsHuman Immunodeficiency VirusHuman Immunodeficiency Virus InfectionAcquire Immune Deficiency SyndromeHuman Immunodeficiency Virus TestingSexually Transmitted DiseaseThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.