Outreach Syphilis Testing Services by Different Health Providers to Female Sex Workers in Southern China

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 8; no. 4; p. e60626
• Main Authors: Chen, Xiang-Sheng, Yin, Yue-Ping, Liu, Guo-Gu, Wei, Wan-Hui, Wang, Hong-Chun, Yu, Yuan-Lin, Mabey, David C., Peeling, Rosanna W.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 23.04.2013; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Acquired immune deficiency syndrome; Adult; AIDS; Behavior modification; Biology; China - epidemiology; Cities - statistics & numerical data; Clinics; Community-Institutional Relations; Condoms; Dermatology; Disease control; Female; Females; Health care; Health care policy; Health education; Health Personnel - statistics & numerical data; Health services; HIV; Hospitals; Human immunodeficiency virus; Humans; Intervention; Mass Screening - methods; Medicine; Occupational health; Outreach services; Population; Prostitution; Public health; Referral and Consultation; Reproduction; Reproductive health; Reproductive systems; Service development; Sex; Sex industry; Sex Workers - statistics & numerical data; Sexually transmitted diseases; Social services; STD; Syphilis; Syphilis - diagnosis; Syphilis - epidemiology; Teams; Treponema pallidum; Women's health; Workers; Working women; China
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0060626

Health providers have played important roles on delivering prevention and care services to control syphilis in China. The current study was aimed to evaluate the performance of different health providers in providing outreach syphilis testing services to female sex workers (FSWs). The current study carried out during April to August 2009 in Liuzhou was aimed to investigate the services delivered by two different types of clinics in China. A total of 1,808 FSWs recruited from sex work venues were included in the study. Prevalence of positive syphilis test (6.4%) among FSWs accessed by the local center for disease control outreach teams (CDC teams) was significantly lower than that (9.3%) among FSWs accessed by the local reproductive health hospital outreach teams (RHH teams). As compared with CDC teams, RHH teams had more FSWs to be successfully referred to the designated STD clinics for further syphilis confirmation and intervention (85.7% vs. 26.7%, P<0.001). These findings indicate that RHH teams may be more efficient than CDC teams to provide outreach-based services to FSWs. Participation of the reproductive health providers or other medical facilities in outreach services to FSWs should be considered in developing intervention programs in China.