testing and treatment

Research for Sex Work 14: Sex Work is Work

Research for Sex Work 14: Sex Work is Work is a peer-reviewed publication for sex workers, activists, health workers, researchers, NGO staff and policy makers. It is available in English and Spanish. All issues of Research for Sex Work can be found here.

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Chinese study sheds light on how well treatment may work as prevention in the real world

The study examined a cohort of people with HIV, in which research had already yielded two contradictory estimates of the effectiveness of ART in preventing transmission. Many of the original HIV-positive partners were infected through selling blood in non-sterile conditions between the early 1990s and 1998. In 1998, the practice was outlawed, but not before it had created a local HIV epidemic.

No-one with an undetectable viral load, gay or heterosexual, transmits HIV in first two years of PARTNER study

Viral load suppression means risk of HIV transmission is 'at most' 4% during anal sex, but final results not due till 2017.

 

The second large study to look at whether people with HIV become non-infectious if they are on antiretroviral therapy (ART) has found no cases where someone with a viral load under 200 copies/ml transmitted HIV, either by anal or vaginal sex.

Community Mobilisation and Empowerment of Female Sex Workers in Karnataka State, South India: HIV/STI Risk

A series of behavioural-biological surveys in 2008 and 2011 in four districts of Karnataka found that mobilising female sex workers is central to effective HIV prevention programming. Defining community mobilisation exposure as low, medium or high, the study revealed female sex workers with high exposure to community mobilisation are:

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NSWP Briefing Papers Published: Access to Medicines and the Voices and Demands of Positive Sex Workers

In July 2012, sex workers from all over the world gathered at the ‘Sex Worker Freedom Festival: The Alternative IAC2012 Event (SWFF) for Sex Workers and Allies’ in Kolkata, India. During the festival, a space was created for and by positive sex workers who came together and discussed the additional needs and demands of being a sex worker living with HIV.

Respect QLD workshop for sex workers (English, Thai, Korean)

This workshop, from sex worker-led organisation Respect Inc, in Queensland, Australia, is a very thorough introduction to a wide range of issues relevant to sex workers - particularly those working in Queensland, Australia, due to this resources' discussion of the legal situation there, but also for sex workers more generally in terms of issues like safer sex, negotiating boundaries, emotional well-being, and safety tips.

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Health service barriers to HIV treatment for sex workers in Zimbabwe

This study can be used as evidence of the need for governments and health programmes to take the needs and rights of sex workers living with HIV on board!

Although disproportionately affected by HIV, sex workers remain neglected by efforts to expand access to ART. In Zimbabwe, this qualitative research study was carried out to determine some of the reasons sex workers take up HIV referrals and ART initiation.

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Occupational Health and Safety of Migrant Sex Workers in New Zealand

In 2011, the New Zealand Prostitutes Collective (NZPC) commissioned Kaitiaki to undertake an in-depth investigation to understand better the issues facing migrant sex workers in New Zealand especially with regard to occupational health and safety, and reproductive health.

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