A Sexual Risk Reduction Intervention for Female Sex Workers in Mexico

Abstract

Female sex workers (FSWs) 18 or older who reported having unprotected sex with at least one client within the previous month were recruited in Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. After a baseline assessment, participants were randomly assigned to either: (1) Proyecto Comparte Sexo Mas Seguro (“Share Safer Sex”), a theory-based counseling intervention to increase the use of condoms; or (2) time-equivalent voluntary HIV counseling and testing. Participants had unprotected sex with approximately 27% of clients over the one-month reporting period, and approximately 5% of FSWs in both study conditions tested HIV-seropositive. FSWs in the intervention and comparison conditions showed no significant differences in baseline demographic characteristics, sexual risk behaviors, or HIV serostatus, which indicates that randomization was successful. Future challenges entail participant followup and evaluation of intervention effects.