What Works for Women and Girls

to their peers, distribute condoms and printed materials, and serve as a link to STDclinic staff. Weekly discussion groups for the educators were also held to review thetraining material. Baseline and follow-up surveys and interviews were conducted overa two-year period among 260 matched pairs of transport workers to determine theimpact of the intervention. Forty-five sex workers were also administered pre- and postinterventionsurveys concerning client behavior. Although AIDS-related knowledge wasdetermined to be high at baseline, with 95% of the transport workers reporting at leastsome awareness concerning HIV/AIDS transmission and other related issues, a significantincrease to 100% was observed in the follow-up interviews. Consistent condom usewith regular, nonmarital partners increased from 49.4% to 90.4% and men reportinghaving ever used a condom increased from 30.4% to 53.5%. Sex worker survey resultsshowed that the number of clients “always” agreeing to use a condom increased significantlyfrom 2.2% to 42.2% and the proportion of clients offering more money for sexwithout a condom decreased significantly from 82.2% to 46./7%. Lastly, although themajority of sex workers reported being the supplier of condoms during sexual encounters,29.6% of the men who had received a condom from a peer educator were carryinga condom at the time of the follow-up interview. Commercial sex work has been legalin Senegal since 1970 (Leonard et al., 2000). (Gray III) (sex workers, peer education,condoms, Senegal)An intervention in India that reached one million male clients of sex workers a monthincreased consistent condom use from 62% in May 2006 to 81% in May 2007. Theintervention involved pre-tested single message focus by PSI integrated into streettheater and interpersonal communications every three months, based on bi-annualquantitative studies. Recall of PSI’s activities was correlated with increased in consistentcondom use (Hess and Vachani, 2008). (Abstract) (mass media, sex workers, condom use,India)A program by PSI in India targeting four million clients of sex workers in 100 highprevalence towns that increased access and demand to condoms resulted in consistentmale condom use increasing from 63% in 2006 to 81% one year later. Areas meetingcondom access standards increased from 40% in 2005 to 73% two years later (Vachaniand Krishnan, 2008). (Abstract) (sex workers, condom use, India)Promising Strategies:7. Creating a sense of community, empowerment and leadership among sex workers can helpsupport effective HIV prevention.Empowerment for sex workers in India through Sonagachi has evolved from 1992when staff of an NGO approached sex workers to currently, where sex workers haveformed their own autonomous organization, Durbar, with 65,000 sex workers in theWHAT WORKS FOR WOMEN AND GIRLS87