Costigan A, Ngugi E, Odek WO, Plummer FA, Moses S, Oneko M; International Conference on AIDS.
Int Conf AIDS. 2000 Jul 9-14; 13: abstract no. ThPeD5570.
A. Costigan, Strengthening STD/AIDS Control Project, PO Box 19676, Nairobi 2542, Kenya, Tel.: +254 2 725 960, Fax: +254 2 712 007, E-mail: aine@ratn.org
Introduction: The extent to which poverty pushes women into commercial and transactional sex and the association between relationships of lesser and greater intimacy and women's ability to insist on condom use are critical issues in promoting safer sexual behavior among women from low socio-economic groups. Understanding the extent to which poverty pushes vulnerable urban women entering into commercial sex work or transactional sexual relationships and the use of condoms in both kinds of sexual relationships is crucial. Methods: In February 1999, 209 female sex workers were surveyed using a personal interview questionnaire in four Nairobi slums. The socio-economic status of the respondents, their reasons for entering into commercial sex, other means of support and condom use were assessed. Results: The average age of study participants was 32 years. Sixty-eight per cent of respondents had primary school education, and 24% had some secondary level education. Study participants had an average of five dependents each and needed, an average minimum income of US$70 per month to meet their subsistence level needs. The overwhelming majority reported the lack of economic alternatives as their reason for commercial sex work. Twenty per cent of the respondents reported having other means of income than commercial sex. Of these, 97% reported that this was support from their lovers or boyfriends. Respondents reported 79% condoms use "always" with commercial sex clients and 21% used condoms with clients "sometimes". While engaging in sex with a regular boyfriend or lover, 47% reported no condom use. Conclusions: Among study respondents, poverty is the driving force for sexual relationships. Sex is primarily a means of exchange in both the impersonal arena of commercial sex and the more intimate boyfriend/lover arena. Achieving consistent condom use is easier in commercial rather than intimate sexual encounters.
Publication Types:
Keywords:
- Condoms
- Condoms, Female
- Data Collection
- Educational Status
- Female
- Humans
- Kenya
- Mental Disorders
- Poverty
- Poverty Areas
- Prostitution
- Questionnaires
- Safe Sex
- Sexual Behavior
- Social Class
- Socioeconomic Factors
Other ID:
UI: 102242196
From Meeting Abstracts