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Knowledge of HIV and Condom Use Practices among Female Sex Workers in West Bengal: Revisiting 2020 Behavioral
Debdutta Agasty1, Rahul Biswas2, Somnath Naskar3
1Research Officer, ICMR-National Institute for Research in Bacterial Infections (NIRBI), Kolkata, West Bengal, India.
Background:
Female sex workers (FSWs) constitute a significant portion of high-risk groups (HRGs) in the districts of West Bengal, as indicated by HRG size mapping exercises.
Objectives:
This study aimed to evaluate the knowledge of HIV/AIDS and condom usage practices among FSWs in clusters selected from districts in West Bengal for behavioural surveillance surveys (BSS)-lite.
Materials And Methods:
BSS-lite was implemented in designated districts of West Bengal and interviews with 399 brothel and street-based FSWs from January to March 2020 were conducted utilizing computer-assisted personal interview or audio-computer assisted self-interview. Data analysis was performed using SPSS, version 17. Chi-square testing was employed to examine the association between HIV/AIDS knowledge and sociodemographic factors, service utilization, and condom usage behaviors.
Results:
The mean age of FSW respondents was 31 years (standard deviation 7.9) with a majority being illiterate (48.4%). Approximately 50.5% of FSWs were separated or divorced, and for 87.2% of respondents, sex work constituted their primary occupation. The percentage of comprehensive knowledge was 12.8%. There was a significant association ( P < 0.01) between condom use in the last sex act with frequency of condom use with commercial partner and condom use with regular partner.
Conclusion:
Enhanced interventions are warranted to address the knowledge gap concerning HIV transmission and condom use practices among FSWs, particularly with respect to regular partners.
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