Description
Sex workers have been a marginalized population for many years, making them a difficult group to target for interventions. However, their difficulty to target proves something to be tackled as this group can help spread sexually transmitted infections to the general public and in border towns like Tijuana, Mexico, to foreign countries. The study population consisted of 394 18 years or older Mexican female sex workers that resided in Tijuana, Mexico. FSWs with a friends and family social network of 2-4 individuals were more likely to report vaginal discharge [AOR=2.190, 95% CI (1.112, 4.314)] than FSWs with a social network size of 0-1 individuals, while controlling for all other variables in the model. FSWs with two or more individuals in their sexual health advice social network were more likely to report vaginal discharge than FSWs with 0-1 individuals in their sexual health advice social network [AOR= 2.626, 95% CI (1.384, 4.984)], HIV knowledge. Other variables like number of casual partners, HIV knowledge, and number STI symptoms known, where also significant after adjusting for all other variables. Future studies should focus on the association between HIV knowledge and social support in relation to vaginal discharge, to see which caused the other. Understanding these relationships will allow for new interventions to be created in order to decrease the prevalence of STIs and transmission rates
