HIV Risk Perception of Female Sex workers and Condom Use during Sex with Clients: Experimentation on the regional comparative basis in India.

Background:
To assess the consistency in responses relating to the female sex workers’ HIV risk perception and their condom use behaviour in two high HIV prevalence Indian States. The research question is why the female sex workers take HIV risk chance though they have a strong perception about the HIV risk associated with unsafe sex?..
Methods:
This paper is based on secondary data collected for the major survey among FSW in Andhra Pradesh (276) and in Karnataka (218). The major consistency response is “Risk Perception with use of condom” and the inconsistency response is “Risk Perception without use of Condom”.
Results:
The percentage of consistent responses was 31 in Andhra Pradesh as against 48 percent in Karnataka State. The major consistent response was a strong risk perception accompanied by condom use, whereas the inconsistency mostly refers to the lack of risk perception with use of condom implying more conscious efforts. But the group with a strong perception not accompanied by condom use is really programme target.
Conclusion:
Protecting the latter category should be prioritised in intervention programme. An operation research is needed to analyse the dynamics of FSWS in this regard.