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  • Title: Women of courage: commercial sex workers mobilize for HIV / AIDS prevention in Nigeria.
    Author: Williams EE.
    Journal: Aidscaptions; 1994 May; 1(2):19-22. PubMed ID: 12345902.
    Abstract:
    The Calabar Project in Nigeria, which seeks to reduce the vulnerability of prostitutes to HIV infection, began informally in 1987. By 1988, a formal, community-based intervention was created to promote condom use, provide health education as well as literacy and vocational training, and seek better working and living conditions for the prostitutes. The first task of the Calabar Project was to overcome the resistance of the hotel owners and managers where the prostitutes work and to win the confidence of the women. The owners and managers had to be convinced that it was in their best interest for the women to insist on condom use by their clients. The women had to be informed about the nature of HIV/AIDS and to be convinced that the project sought improvements in their general welfare. This was accomplished by helping the prostitutes improve both their relationship with the local police and their access to health services. Negotiations with hotel owners stabilized the prostitutes' rent for a year to enable the women to increase their charges for services and reduce the number of clients they needed so they could insist on condom use. Peer educators were trained to provide health education and to teach prostitutes techniques to get clients to use condoms. Clients were reached through the prostitutes and by providing information to small groups in hotel bars. Condoms were initially distributed for free and eventually were sold through a social marketing program. Peer educators also encouraged prostitutes and their clients to use a clinic the project established to diagnose and treat sexually transmitted diseases. In 1993, the Calabar Project helped create a vocational and literacy training center to improve the women's ability to understand the complex issues related to HIV/AIDS and to give the women a way to supplement their income and improve their self-esteem. By this time, more than 60% of the women reported using condoms for all sex acts.
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