Cheah Yong Kang, Suleiman Anita, Ramly Mazliza
School of Economics, Finance and Banking, College of Business, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Kedah, Malaysia.
HIV/STI/Hepatitis C Sector, Ministry of Health Malaysia, Putrajaya, Malaysia.
Malays J Med Sci. 2024 Jun;31(3):160-172. doi: 10.21315/mjms2024.31.3.12. Epub 2024 Jun 27.
Female sex workers (FSWs) have a high risk of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. In spite of the alarming fact that a large proportion of FSWs does not have adequate HIV knowledge, the association between sociodemographic factors and HIV knowledge among FSWs have yet to be thoroughly explored in the context of Malaysia. The aims of this study are the following: i) to determine HIV knowledge and ii) to examine the associated factors of HIV knowledge.
An observational cross-sectional study was conducted. Data from the Integrated Biological and Behavioral Surveillance Survey (IBBS) 2017 ( = 630) were used. The survey was carried out in all states in Malaysia and its duration was 4 months (from March 2017 to June 2017). Ordered probit regressions were utilised to shed light on the association between sociodemographic variables and levels of HIV knowledge.
A large proportion of FSWs had middle-level HIV knowledge (44.1%). FSWs with tertiary-level education were 19.5% more likely to have high-level HIV knowledge compared to those without formal education. The probability of having low-level HIV knowledge was 6.8% lower among FSWs with monthly incomes of RM1,500-RM1,999 than those having incomes of ≤ RM499. Being single instead of married was associated with 7.6%-8% lower probabilities of having low- and middle-level HIV knowledge.
Public health interventions to improve FSWs' HIV knowledge need to take into consideration the role of sociodemographic factors.
女性性工作者感染人类免疫缺陷病毒（HIV）的风险很高。尽管很大一部分女性性工作者没有足够的HIV知识这一事实令人担忧，但在马来西亚的背景下，社会人口因素与女性性工作者的HIV知识之间的关联尚未得到充分探讨。本研究的目的如下：i）确定HIV知识；ii）检查HIV知识的相关因素。
进行了一项观察性横断面研究。使用了2017年综合生物和行为监测调查（IBBS）（n = 630）的数据。该调查在马来西亚所有州进行，持续时间为4个月（从2017年3月至2017年6月）。使用有序概率回归来阐明社会人口变量与HIV知识水平之间的关联。
很大一部分女性性工作者具有中等水平的HIV知识（44.1%）。与未受过正规教育的女性性工作者相比，受过高等教育的女性性工作者拥有高水平HIV知识的可能性高19.5%。月收入为1500 - 1999令吉的女性性工作者拥有低水平HIV知识的概率比收入≤499令吉的女性性工作者低6.8%。单身而非已婚与低水平和中等水平HIV知识的概率降低7.6% - 8%相关。
改善女性性工作者HIV知识的公共卫生干预措施需要考虑社会人口因素的作用。
