Sexual Risk, Behavior, and HIV Testing and Status Among Male and Transgender Women Sex Workers and Their Clients in Lima, Peru

ABSTRACT

Objectives: To determine the socio-demographics, sexual practices, and HIV prevalence of male sex workers (MSWs), transwomen sex workers (TSWs), and their male clients in Lima, Peru. Methods: Following ethnographic mapping of sex work venues, the authors revisited randomly selected venues to survey MSWs, TSWs and their clients. Results: MSWs and TSW clients are more educated than MSW clients and TSWs. Only 50% of TSW clients have received HIV testing. Self-reported HIV positivity is highest among MSW clients and TSWs. Conclusion: Notable differences exist between MSWs and TSWs and their clients that can affect the health of these groups and warrant intervention.

KEYWORDS:

• HIV/AIDS
• Peru
• sex work
• sex work clients
• transgender

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge and thank all of the study participants and staff without whom this study would not have been possible. Thanks also to Jeffrey D. Klausner for his critical review of the article. The funding sources played no role in study design, data collection, analysis, and interpretation, writing of the article or the decision to submit the article for publication.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health (K01TW009206R25TW009343) an the UCLA AIDS Institute and UCLA Center for AIDS Research (AI28697).