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Prevalence, Trends and Correlates of HIV, Syphilis and HCV Infection Among Chinese Local and Cross-border Migrant Female Sex Workers in the Sino-Vietnam Border Area of Guangxi, 2016–2021

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Abstract

Female sex workers (FSWs) are considered a high-risk group for sexually transmitted infections (STIs). However, limited data exist on the prevalence and trends of HIV, syphilis and HCV among FSWs in the Sino-Vietnam border area. To determine the prevalence, trends and correlates of STIs among Chinese local FSWs (CL-FSWs) and cross-border migrant FSWs (CM-FSWs), we conducted consecutive cross-sectional surveys from 2016 to 2021, recruiting 7747 CL-FSWs and 932 CM-FSWs. The overall HIV, syphilis and HCV prevalence declined from 1.0%, 8.8% and 1.7% to 0.1%, 0.9% and 0.3%, respectively. There was no significant downward trend in the overall HIV and syphilis prevalence. However, HCV prevalence showed a decreasing trend among CL-FSWs. CM-FSWs had higher HIV prevalence (2.5% vs. 0.6%). Similarities and differences in STIs-related factors existed between CM-FSWs and CL-FSWs. For instance, receiving HIV-related services in the last year reduced the risk of HIV infection (for CM-FSWs: aOR = 0.234, 95% CI: 0.055–0.993; for CL-FSWs: aOR = 0.182, 95% CI: 0.058–0.567). Serving male clients at least 50 years old increased the risk of syphilis infection (for CM-FSWs: aOR = 4.277, 95% CI: 1.535–11.917; for CL-FSWs: aOR = 1.404, 95% CI: 1.087–1.815). Moreover, CM-FSWs with past-year STIs history had a higher risk of HIV (aOR = 34.976, 95% CI: 5.338–229.176) and HCV infection (aOR = 17.649, 95% CI: 1.846–168.846), both of which were associated with multiple factors in CL-FSWs. It is therefore necessary to develop effective, accessible, high-quality and targeted interventions for CM-FSWs and CL-FSWs.

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Data availability

Data from this study are available upon request.

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Acknowledgements

We are incredibly grateful to the health workers at Chongzuo CDC and Fangchenggang CDC for their hard work in conducting the survey and data collection, and to all the study participants who shared their time and insights.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant number 82060610 and 82103899), Guangxi Scientific and Technological Talent Project (Grant number 2022AC23005), the National Key R&D Program of China (Grant number 2022YFC2305001), thousands of Young and Middle age Key Teachers Training Program in Guangxi Colleges and Universities (To Bingyu Liang), and Innovation Project of Guangxi Graduate Education (Grant number YCBZ2023095).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Guangxi Key Laboratory of AIDS Prevention and Treatment, School of Public Health, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, Guangxi, 530021, China

    Bingyu Liang, Fei Zhang, Yuan Yang, Hao Liang & Li Ye

  2. Collaborative Innovation Center of Regenerative Medicine and Medical Bioresource Development and Application Co-constructed by the Province and Ministry, Life Sciences Institute, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, Guangxi, 530021, China

    Bingyu Liang, Fei Zhang, Yuan Yang, Hao Liang & Li Ye

  3. Chongzuo Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Chongzuo, Guangxi, 532200, China

    Yanyun Ou, Lijuan Bao, Aidan Nong, Dongmei Wei, Zhenxian Wu & Deping Liu

  4. Fangchenggang Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Fangchenggang, Guangxi, 538000, China

    Peidong Zhang, Shide Mo & Hai Xie

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  1. Bingyu Liang
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. BL, FZ and YO collaborated in the writing the draft of the manuscript. Data collection was performed by PZ, LB, SM and HX. AN, DW, ZW and YY completed data analysis. DL, HL and LY contributed to results interpretation, data analysis and manuscript writing. All authors provided edits and feedback on the manuscript and approved the final version.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Deping Liu, Hao Liang or Li Ye.

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All the authors have no conflict of interest to declare that are relevant to the content of this article.

Ethical Approval

This study was performed in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Approval was granted by the Guangxi Institutional Review Board (GXIRB2014-0041).

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Informed consent was obtained from all individuals who participated in the study. Patients signed consent forms regarding analysing their data and publishing the findings.

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Bingyu Liang, Fei Zhang and Yanyun Ou contributed equally to this paper.

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Liang, B., Zhang, F., Ou, Y. et al. Prevalence, Trends and Correlates of HIV, Syphilis and HCV Infection Among Chinese Local and Cross-border Migrant Female Sex Workers in the Sino-Vietnam Border Area of Guangxi, 2016–2021. AIDS Behav 28, 1257–1269 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-023-04153-6

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