Organizational policy recommendations for control of STI/HIV among female sex workers in China: regular examination of workers in social hygiene clinics

This article aims to address female sex workers at high risk for contracting HIV in China by recommending evidence-based socio-structural interventions and policies at the national level that have yielded effective outcomes in other countries. National governments such as the Philippines and Hong Kong have utilized the Social Hygiene Clinic (SHC) model. A similar national policy can be highly effective in China. Evidence-based research study results indicate significant reductions in STI and consistent condom use among female sex workers in both China and the Philippines. By beginning with provinces, which already have a good relationship between establishment venues and the local Health Department, China can develop city ordinances and establishment regulations that begin to require regular examinations of female sex workers and entertainers in the local STI clinic.

Comment : this article is one of several in recent peer review journals and from UN agencies that recommend  that sex female workers be required by law to undergo regular STI and HIV tests or be subject to treatment for STIs without diagnosis. In this case the finding has the potential to affect more than a million women. (See also Cusack, WHO, Advancing Sexual Health and Human Rights in the Western Pacific.)