A new survey of commercial sex work in Kenya, the first to include male sex workers, has revealed that 40 percent of female and male commercial sex workers are in marriages or stable unions.
According to the survey by the National AIDS and Sexually transmitted infections Control Programme (NASCOP), the World Bank, Kenya Prisons and Canada's University of Manitoba, there are an estimated 200,000 commercial sex workers in Kenya, 15,000 of whom are men.
The study, which covered all the countrys urban areas with the exception of North Eastern Province, found that Rift Valley and Nairobi provinces had the biggest number of sex workers.
"A majority of the male commercial sex workers have sex with men, and this puts them at greater risk because anal sex, as is already known, is a catalyst for the spread of HIV, and because of the stigma involved, many do not seek services like HIV testing," said Nicholas Muraguri, head of NASCOP.
Source: The Standard
According to the survey by the National AIDS and Sexually transmitted infections Control Programme (NASCOP), the World Bank, Kenya Prisons and Canada's University of Manitoba, there are an estimated 200,000 commercial sex workers in Kenya, 15,000 of whom are men.
The study, which covered all the countrys urban areas with the exception of North Eastern Province, found that Rift Valley and Nairobi provinces had the biggest number of sex workers.
"A majority of the male commercial sex workers have sex with men, and this puts them at greater risk because anal sex, as is already known, is a catalyst for the spread of HIV, and because of the stigma involved, many do not seek services like HIV testing," said Nicholas Muraguri, head of NASCOP.
Source: The Standard