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. 2018 Aug;22(8):2435-2457.
doi: 10.1007/s10461-018-2043-3.

HIV Testing and Counseling Among Female Sex Workers: A Systematic Literature Review

Anna Tokar  1 , Jacqueline E W Broerse  2 , James Blanchard  3 , Maria Roura  4   5
Affiliations

HIV Testing and Counseling Among Female Sex Workers: A Systematic Literature Review

Anna Tokar et al. AIDS Behav. 2018 Aug.

Abstract
in English, Spanish

HIV testing uptake continues to be low among Female Sex Workers (FSWs). We synthesizes evidence on barriers and facilitators to HIV testing among FSW as well as frequencies of testing, willingness to test, and return rates to collect results. We systematically searched the MEDLINE/PubMed, EMBASE, SCOPUS databases for articles published in English between January 2000 and November 2017. Out of 5036 references screened, we retained 36 papers. The two barriers to HIV testing most commonly reported were financial and time costs-including low income, transportation costs, time constraints, and formal/informal payments-as well as the stigma and discrimination ascribed to HIV positive people and sex workers. Social support facilitated testing with consistently higher uptake amongst married FSWs and women who were encouraged to test by peers and managers. The consistent finding that social support facilitated HIV testing calls for its inclusion into current HIV testing strategies addressed at FSW.

La aceptación a realizar las pruebas de VIH continúa siendo baja entre las Mujeres Trabajadoras Sexuales (MTS). Nosotros sintetizamos evidencias sobre las barreras y las facilidades para realizar las pruebas de VIH entre las MTS, así como sobre las frecuencias de la prueba, voluntad de evaluar y tasa de retorno para recoger los resultados. Se realizaron búsquedas sistemáticas en las bases de datos MEDLINE/PubMed, EMBASE,SCOPUS para artículos publicados en inglés entre enero del 2000 y noviembre de 2017. De 5036 referencias examinadas, elegimos 36 artículos. Las dos barreras más comunes para las pruebas de VIH fueron los costos financieros y de tiempo, incluyendo: bajos ingresos, costos de transporte, limitaciones de tiempo y pagos formales/informales, así como el estigma y la discriminación atribuidos a las personas y trabajadoras sexuales seropositivas. El apoyo social facilitó las pruebas de VIH con una mayor aceptación entre las MTS casadas y las mujeres a quienes sus compañeros y gerentes les animaron a realizarlas. El hallazgo consistente en que el apoyo social facilitó las pruebas de VIH requiere su inclusión en las estrategias actuales de pruebas de VIH realizadas en MTS.

Keywords: Female sex workers (FSWs); HIV diagnosis; HIV testing; Systematic review.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest

Author AT declares that she has no conflict of interest. Author JEWB declares that she has no conflict of interest. Author JB declares that he has no conflict of interest Author MR declares that she has no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
PRISMA flow chart of citations
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Conceptual framework: barriers and facilitators of HIV testing amongst FSWs. Reproduced with Permission from Blanchard et al. [22]
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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    1. World Health Organization (WHO), Consolidated guidelines on HIV testing services 2015. July, 2015:Geneva, Switzerlan. - PubMed
    1. Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). 90-90-90 An ambitious treatment to help end the AIDS epidemic. 2014: Geneva, Switzerlan.
    1. Aral OS, Blanchard FJ. Phase specific approaches to the epidemiology and prevention of sexually transmitted diseases. Sex Transm Infect. 2002;78(1):1–12. doi: 10.1136/sti.78.suppl_1.i1. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

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