Objectives: This study evaluated a brief human rights-focused HIV community mobilization intervention for sex workers in the Philippines, a country with one of the fastest rising number of HIV cases worldwide.
Methods: Five single-session group interventions to reduce sexual risk and increase HIV testing among 86 sex workers in Manila were evaluated with pre-post-test data via Wilcoxon's signed-ranks and Mann-Whitney tests. The 4-h intervention, Kapihan (August-November, 2013), integrated human rights with HIV skill-building. Demographic data, violence/trafficking victimization, human rights knowledge, and intentions to HIV test and treat were collected.
Results: Participants were median aged 23; female (69 %); had children (55; 22 % had 3+ children); used drugs (past 3 months: 16 %); sexually/physically abused by clients (66 %); 20 % street sex workers ever took an HIV test. Pre-post-test scores significantly improved in knowledge of HIV (z = -8.895, p < 0.001), reproductive health (z = -3.850, p < 0.001), human rights (z = -4.391, p < 0.001), ethical rights of research participants (z = -5.081, p < 0.001), and intentions to HIV test (z = -4.868, p < 0.001).
Conclusions: Integrating human rights into HIV interventions may empower sex workers to address their health and human rights and test for HIV.
Keywords: Community mobilization; Empowerment; HIV/AIDS; Human rights; Men who have sex with men (MSM), female sex workers; Sex work; Trafficking; Transactional sex; Violence.