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. 2023 Jun;35(6):784-790.
doi: 10.1080/09540121.2021.1995839. Epub 2021 Nov 1.

HIV care continuum among cisgender and transgender women sex workers in Greater Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Yerina S Ranjit  1 , Britton A Gibson  2 , Frederick L Altice  3 , Adeeba Kamarulzaman  4 , Iskandar Azwa  4 , Jeffrey A Wickersham  3   4
Affiliations

HIV care continuum among cisgender and transgender women sex workers in Greater Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Yerina S Ranjit et al. AIDS Care. 2023 Jun.

Abstract

An estimated 37,000 cisgender and transgender women work as sex workers in Malaysia, a population that has been disproportionately affected by the HIV epidemic. Although Malaysia provides no-cost antiretroviral therapy (ART) to people with HIV, little is known about sex workers' engagement in the HIV care continuum. We analyzed data from 57 HIV-infected cisgender women (n = 33) and transgender women (n = 24) sex workers from a respondent-driven sampling study on HIV prevalence among sex workers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We examined the proportion of women who were newly diagnosed with HIV, had a baseline CD-4 count test, were initiated and retained on antiretroviral treatment (ART). Overall, only 26.3% had ever been HIV tested and almost 60% were newly diagnosed. Only a small proportion of cisgender (15.2%) and transgender (12.5%) women were currently taking ART. Interventions to enhance sex workers' engagement in the HIV care continuum are urgently needed. Deployment of evidence-based strategies to improve linkage and retention in HIV care should be adapted to address the unique needs of this important key population.

Keywords: Cisgender sex workers; HIV care continuum; Malaysia; transgender sex workers.

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Conflict of interest statement

The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. The authors do not have any conflicts of interest related to the content of this manuscript.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
HIV care continuum proportions for cisgender (n = 33) and transgender women (n = 24) sex workers.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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