NAIROBI, Kenya
HIV prevalence among female sex workers in Kenya has fallen sharply in the last 10 years, surprising even researchers.
The
prevalence in Nairobi sex workers is now just three times that of the general
population, down from about seven times 13 years ago.
It
stands at 12 per cent, a great improvement from 2008 when 44 per cent of all
female sex workers in the city were infected, a new study suggests.
This
is a 67 per cent reduction after adjustment for known demographic and
behavioural factors that could influence the results.
This
study is published in the February edition of AIDS,
a scientific journal owned by the International Aids Society, and further
reported by the Aidsmap charity.
“HIV prevalence decreased over time in all age
groups. This was particularly evident among female sex workers less than 25
years of age,” authors say.
Three
authors are from the University of Nairobi’s Institute of Tropical and
Infectious Diseases while the others are from Canadian universities.
They
analysed anonymous data at seven different Sex Worker Outreach Programmes in
Nairobi from a total of 33,560 women.
Prevalence
among young sex workers under 25 years dropped from a high of 19 per cent in
2010 to five per cent.
This
compares well with the national HIV prevalence, which stands at 4.9 per cent,
according to the Kenya Population-based HIV Impact Assessment 2018 survey.
A
separate study from Mombasa, published in the International Journal of STD & Aids in
October last year, also shows a similar trend.
“From
1993 to 2016, an overall 30 per cent decrease in prevalence was noted with an
average annual decline of three per cent,” this study shows.
Currently, about one in
10 female sex workers in Mombasa are infected with HIV, says the study, titled
'HIV infections among female sex workers in Mombasa, Kenya: Current prevalence
and trends over 25 years.'
The
Nairobi study notes that no single intervention can be credited with the sharp
fall.
However,
the authors agree that increasing HIV awareness, testing and treatment played a
major role.
It
is also possible increased viral suppression in infected clients prevented
spread to sex workers.
The
Nairobi study shows in 2008, only 50 per cent of HIV positive sex workers had
previously taken an HIV test, compared to 95 per cent in 2017.
In
women who tested negative there was also an increase from 77 per cent to 98 per
cent.
Condom
use has increased significantly. Only 11 per cent of HIV-negative female sex
workers with regular partners in 2008 reported their partners used condoms.
But
by 2017, this rose to 75 per cent.
Among
workers with casual partners, condom use every time was reported by 67 per cent
of women in 2008 but increased to 90 per cent in 2017.
The
researchers said one limitation could be that more sex workers at higher risk
of contracting HIV were enrolled earlier in the study, with sex workers at
lower risk joining later. They said this could partly account for the decrease
seen.
They
recommend despite the low prevalence, sex workers and their clients must still
practice safe sex. – The Star
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