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Peer Outreach Work as Economic Activity: Implications for HIV Prevention Interventions among Female Sex Workers

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  • Annie George
  • Kim M Blankenship

Abstract

Female sex workers (FSWs) who work as peer outreach workers in HIV prevention programs are drawn from poor socio-economic groups and consider outreach work, among other things, as an economic activity. Yet, while successful HIV prevention outcomes by such programs are attributed in part to the work of peers who have dense relations with FSW communities, there is scant discussion of the economic implications for FSWs of their work as peers. Using observational data obtained from an HIV prevention intervention for FSWs in south India, we examined the economic benefits and costs to peers of doing outreach work and their implications for sex workers’ economic security. We found that peers considered their payment incommensurate with their workload, experienced long delays receiving compensation, and at times had to advance money from their pockets to do their assigned peer outreach work. For the intervention these conditions resulted in peer attrition and difficulties in recruitment of new peer workers. We discuss the implications of these findings for uptake of services, and the possibility of reaching desired HIV outcomes. Inadequate and irregular compensation to peers and inadequate budgetary outlays to perform their community-based outreach work could weaken peers’ relationships with FSW community members, undermine the effectiveness of peer-mediated HIV prevention programs and invalidate arguments for the use of peers.

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  • Annie George & Kim M Blankenship, 2015. "Peer Outreach Work as Economic Activity: Implications for HIV Prevention Interventions among Female Sex Workers," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(3), pages 1-14, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0119729
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0119729
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Glenton, Claire & Scheel, Inger B. & Pradhan, Sabina & Lewin, Simon & Hodgins, Stephen & Shrestha, Vijaya, 2010. "The female community health volunteer programme in Nepal: Decision makers' perceptions of volunteerism, payment and other incentives," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(12), pages 1920-1927, June.
    2. Evans, Catrin & Lambert, Helen, 2008. "Implementing community interventions for HIV prevention: Insights from project ethnography," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(2), pages 467-478, January.
    3. Cornwall, Andrea, 2003. "Whose Voices? Whose Choices? Reflections on Gender and Participatory Development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(8), pages 1325-1342, August.
    4. Maes, Kenneth C. & Kohrt, Brandon A. & Closser, Svea, 2010. "Culture, status and context in community health worker pay: Pitfalls and opportunities for policy research. A commentary on Glenton et al. (2010)," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(8), pages 1375-1378, October.
    5. Swendeman, Dallas & Basu, Ishika & Das, Sankari & Jana, Smarajit & Rotheram-Borus, Mary Jane, 2009. "Empowering sex workers in India to reduce vulnerability to HIV and sexually transmitted diseases," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(8), pages 1157-1166, October.
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    1. Bidhubhusan Mahapatra & Monika Walia & Sangram Kishor Patel & Madhusudana Battala & Saradiya Mukherjee & Prachi Patel & Balakrishnan Subramanium & Yamini Atmavilas & Niranjan Saggurti, 2020. "Sustaining consistent condom use among female sex workers by addressing their vulnerabilities and strengthening community-led organizations in India," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(7), pages 1-17, July.
    2. Pande Putu Januraga & Julie Mooney-Somers & Hailay Abrha Gesesew & Paul R Ward, 2020. "The Logic of Condom Use in Female Sex Workers in Bali, Indonesia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(5), pages 1-12, March.

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