HIV & Sex Work
- kosk47
- Jan 7
- 1 min read
Sex workers are disproportionally affected by HIV. However, the stigma attached to sex work remains high with consequences for the HIV response and health for all.
In 2022, the relative risk of acquiring HIV was nine times higher for sex workers than for people in the wider population globally. Some geographical areas are improving: in sub-Saharan Africa, annual numbers of sex workers with newly acquired HIV dropped by 50% between 2010 and 2022. Yet, numbers of new infections among sex workers remain the same outside sub-Saharan Africa and are increasing in some countries.
Criminalization of any aspect of sex work, other punitive laws, interpersonal and institutional violence, and stigma and discrimination remain significant barriers to achieving social justice and equality for sex workers, and ensuring health for all through access to and uptake of HIV and sexual and reproductive health services . To learn more and gain new knowledge on current statistics, please download the short fact sheet by UNAIDS.
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