AIDS sentinel surveillance of female sex workers in Songjiang District of Shanghai

ObjectiveTo investigate the knowledge of HIV/AIDS among the female sex workers in Songjiang District of Shanghai, changes in their related behaviors, and prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus(HIV), syphilis, and hepatitis C virus (HCV), providing evidence for related prevention and control work in this regard.

MethodsDuring 2011-2015 sentinel surveillance period, in the area of Songjiang District, according to the survey method of the National AIDS Sentinel Monitoring Implementation Program, questionnaires were conducted on the female sex workers and their venous blood was collected to detect HIV, syphilis and HCV antibodies.

ResultsA total of 2 064 secret prostitutes were surveyed.The overall awareness rate of AIDS-related knowledge among them was 94.77%, and the annual awareness rates were 93.33%, 95.01%, 93.00%, 99.76%, and 92.57%, respectively(P < 0.05);The total proportion of the female sex workers who used condoms in the last commercial sex was 90.07%, and 84.05%, 80.55%, 93.72%, 99.06%, and 95.79% respectively in the calendar year(P < 0.05);The total proportion of the female sex workers who insisted on using condoms for commercial sex in the last 1 month was 76.74%, and 69.29%, 60.60%, 86.47%, 87.76%, and 78.96% respectively in the calendar year(P < 0.05);The average detection rate of HIV antibodies for 5 years was 0.00%, syphilis antibody detection rate was 3.00%, and HCV antibody detection rate was 0.34%.

ConclusionThe knowledge level of AIDS related knowledge is high among the female sex workers in Songjiang District.The persistent condom use rate during commercial sex is low in the last month; the syphilis detection rate is slightly higher than the national average.