Health work, female sex workers and HIV/AIDS: global and local dimensions of stigma and deviance as barriers to effective interventions

Abstract

This study validates my own clinical experience that sex workers are sometimes stigmatized. discriminated against and denied services. Advanced Sign out This article is about how stigma can and does interfere with HIV/AIDS interventions, including prevention, control, care and support. Firstly, the sex worker might be inclined to not seek services because of fear of discrimination. Secondly the health care worker might assume a negative attitude towards the sex worker thus affecting the quality of care. The article includes the example of a sex worker who had been raped and was denied services including post exposure prophylaxis, emergency family planning, STI treatment and rape counselling for eight hours simply because she was a sex-worker. To compound the problem further, the night was freezing cold. The study would have added more value if it had included a site from an African country. It would also be interesting to carry out research regarding whether the stigma exists more in men compared to women and reasons for this.