Partners for Health and Development in Africa, Nairobi, Kenya.
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
BMC Public Health. 2022 May 13;22(1):965. doi: 10.1186/s12889-022-13387-3.
In Kenya sex work is illegal and those engaged in the trade are stigmatized and marginalized. We explored how female sex workers in Nairobi, Kenya, utilize different resources to navigate the negative consequences of the work they do.
Qualitative data were collected in October 2019 from 40 FSWs who were randomly sampled from 1003 women enrolled in the Maisha Fiti study, a 3-year longitudinal mixed-methods study exploring the relationship between HIV risk and violence and mental health. All interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed and translated. Data were thematically coded and analyzed using Nvivo 12.
Participants' age range was 18-45 years. Before entry into sex work, all but one had at least one child. Providing for the children was expressed as the main reason the women joined sex work. All the women grew up in adverse circumstances such as poor financial backgrounds and some reported sexual and physical abuse as children. They also continued to experience adversity in their adulthood including intimate partner violence as well as violence at the workplace. All the participants were noted to have utilised the resources they have to build resilience and cope with these adversities while remaining hopeful for the future. Motherhood was mentioned by most as the reason they have remained resilient. Coming together in groups and engaging with HIV prevention and treatment services were noted as important factors too in building resilience.
Despite the adverse experiences throughout the lives of FSWs, resilience was a key theme that emerged from this study. A holistic approach is needed in addressing the health needs of female sex workers. Encouraging FSWs to come together and advocating together for their needs is a key resource from which resilience and forbearance can grow. Upstream prevention through strengthening of education systems and supporting girls to stay in school and complete their secondary and/or tertiary education would help them gain training and skills, providing them with options for income generation during their adult lives.
在肯尼亚，性工作是非法的，从事性工作的人会受到污名化和边缘化。我们探讨了内罗毕的女性性工作者如何利用不同的资源来应对她们所从事工作的负面影响。
2019 年 10 月，我们从参加 Maisha Fiti 研究的 1003 名女性中随机抽取了 40 名 FSW 进行定性数据收集，这是一项为期 3 年的纵向混合方法研究，旨在探讨艾滋病毒风险与暴力和心理健康之间的关系。所有访谈均进行录音、转录和翻译。使用 Nvivo 12 对数据进行主题编码和分析。
参与者的年龄范围为 18-45 岁。在进入性工作之前，除了一个人之外，所有人都至少有一个孩子。为孩子提供生活所需是这些女性加入性工作的主要原因。所有女性都在贫困的经济背景等不利环境中长大，有些女性报告说在儿童时期遭受过性和身体虐待。她们在成年后也继续面临逆境，包括亲密伴侣暴力和工作场所暴力。所有参与者都注意到，她们利用自己的资源来建立韧性并应对这些逆境，同时对未来保持希望。大多数人提到做母亲是她们保持韧性的原因。以群体形式聚集在一起，并参与艾滋病毒预防和治疗服务，也被认为是建立韧性的重要因素。
尽管 FSW 的生活经历了各种逆境，但韧性是本研究中出现的一个关键主题。在解决女性性工作者的健康需求时，需要采取整体方法。鼓励 FSW 聚集在一起，共同倡导她们的需求，这是一个关键资源，可以从中培养韧性和忍耐力。通过加强教育系统来进行上游预防，并支持女孩留在学校完成中学和/或高等教育，这将帮助她们获得培训和技能，为她们成年后的生活提供收入来源。
