Can Variation in HIV/STD-Related Risk be Explained by Individual SES? Findings from Female Sex Workers in a Rural Chinese County

Abstract

Low socioeconomic status (SES) has been linked to HIV and sexually transmitted disease (STD) at a macro level because the majority of new cases of HIV infection in the world have been reported in underdeveloped or developing countries. However, empirical data on the relationship between individual SES and HIV/STD related risk have been mixed. Employing quantitative data from 454 female sex workers (FSWs), this study was designed to examine the profile of the study sample in terms of their individual SES, HIV/STD-related sexual risk across work locations with different social, cultural, and economic conditions; and to examine the relationship between work location and HIV-related risk behaviors, controlling for individual SES. We have shown in the current study that both SES and HIV/STD-related risk behaviors significantly differed by work location. However, the difference in individual SES was not sufficient to explain the difference of HIV/STD-related risk across the work locations. The findings underscore the need for effective prevention intervention efforts targeting FSWs in rural areas. Based on the findings, we also suggest that HIV/STD intervention efforts among FSWs should take the social and cultural contextual factors of their working environment (and sexual risks) into consideration.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This study is supported by a grant from the NIH Office of AIDS Research (R01MH064878-3S1). The authors would like to thank other research team members from the China CDC Center for AIDS/STD Control (Hui Liu), China CDC Resources Center for STD Prevention and Treatment (Guojun Liang, Ping Yang, Xiaohong Su), Guangxi Zhouang Automous Region CDC (Wei Lu, Dongmei Huang, Weijian Lu, Qinghua Chen, Linzhen Guo), H County Anti-Epidemic Station (Canjian Lu, Feng Chen, Qinghua Lei, Zutian Lu, Zilong Meng, Jiancheng Zhou, Yan Nong, Biwei Wei, Li Ma, Huang Ling), Beijing Normal University (Danhua Lin and Linyuan Deng), and Wayne State University Pediatric Prevention Research Center (Jiantong Guo, Hongjie Liu, Xinguang Chen). The authors also would like to thank Joanne Zwemer for assistance in preparing the manuscript.

Notes

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