Peer outreach work as economic activity: implications for HIV prevention interventions among female sex workers

Female sex workers (FSWs) who work as peer outreach workers in HIV prevention programs are drawn from poor socio-economic groups and consider outreach work, among other things, as an economic activity. Yet, while successful HIV prevention outcomes by such programs are attributed in part to the work...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2015-03, Vol.10 (3), p.e0119729-e0119729
Main Authors: George, Annie, Blankenship, Kim M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome
AIDS
Community
Community-Institutional Relations - economics
Community-Institutional Relations - legislation & jurisprudence
Compensation
Councils
Disease prevention
Economic aspects
Economic conditions
Economics
Employment
Female
HIV
HIV Infections - economics
HIV Infections - prevention & control
HIV Infections - psychology
Human immunodeficiency virus
Humans
India
Informal economy
Intervention
Maternal & child health
Outreach services
Peer Group
Population
Prevention
Prostitution
Public health
Security
Sex
Sex industry
Sex Workers - psychology
Sexually transmitted disease prevention
Sexually transmitted diseases
Socioeconomic Factors
STD
Systematic review
Volunteers
Wages & salaries
Workers
Working women
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Summary:Female sex workers (FSWs) who work as peer outreach workers in HIV prevention programs are drawn from poor socio-economic groups and consider outreach work, among other things, as an economic activity. Yet, while successful HIV prevention outcomes by such programs are attributed in part to the work of peers who have dense relations with FSW communities, there is scant discussion of the economic implications for FSWs of their work as peers. Using observational data obtained from an HIV prevention intervention for FSWs in south India, we examined the economic benefits and costs to peers of doing outreach work and their implications for sex workers' economic security. We found that peers considered their payment incommensurate with their workload, experienced long delays receiving compensation, and at times had to advance money from their pockets to do their assigned peer outreach work. For the intervention these conditions resulted in peer attrition and difficulties in recruitment of new peer workers. We discuss the implications of these findings for uptake of services, and the possibility of reaching desired HIV outcomes. Inadequate and irregular compensation to peers and inadequate budgetary outlays to perform their community-based outreach work could weaken peers' relationships with FSW community members, undermine the effectiveness of peer-mediated HIV prevention programs and invalidate arguments for the use of peers.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0119729