Social Work Interventions with Sex Workers
...er STI treatment among sex workers are main factors that drive STI/HIV spreading in HK. The intervention strategies are designed accordingly as a synergy of behavior change communication (BCC), STI clinical services and condom promotion. And the intervention will also be done at the community level to create an enabling environment targeted to sex workers so as to lower the risk of sexual activities and STI/HIV prevalence. In order to provide in-depth effective interventions, the project has set up a Wellness Centre strategically located close to sex workers, most of whom concentrate in three trade markets in the county. The Wellness Centre has a STI clinic that provides screening and treatment for STIs and a drop-in room. The drop-in room serves as a place where sex workers could take part in organized activities regularly or just come any time for communication or simply relaxation. A counseling room is also available in the Wellness Centre for one-on-one counseling. The project chooses to do social marketing of the condom rather than free condom out of consideration of sustainability of the services and effectiveness of the condom promotion. Condoms are promoted in STI clinic by trained STI doctors during visits of the patients, in drop-in room during BCC activities and in entertainment places by outreach workers and peer educators. BCC component of intervention expects to enhance access and use of STI services among sex workers by referral and STI services in turn would support BCC activities and strengthen its results. Thus, the three components of intervention package are integrated into one another and increase the impact. Though it has not been one year since the implementation of the project, process monitor and evaluation could still provide some experiences and lessons learnt: - There are totally some 700 female sex workers in HK, about 550 of whom are Vietnamese. The socioeconomic characteristics and behavior change motivators/barriers are different in some respects between Vietnamese and Chinese sex workers in HK. Therefore, the work methods have to vary under their different circumstances. Besides recruiting and training Vietnamese-speaking outreach workers and clinic receptionist, the project also provides outreach STI services to Vietnamese sex workers who are more controlled by their mammies/bosses without much free time. The outreach STI services have been welcome and received well. At the same time, efforts were made to win the support from their bosses/mammies who play an important role in interventions especially for Vietnamese sex workers. - The arrangement of drop-in center and STI clinic in the same place proves to be effective and sustainable. Some projects especially set up a drop-in center only, which requires not only more social workers but is very expensive to maintain the operation. The combination of drop-in center and the STI clinic make things practical and ref...