A study of HIV/STD infections amongst commercial sex workers in Kolkata (India). Part-I: some socio-demographic features of commercial sex workers.

A community-based survey of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and sexually transmitted diseases (STD) was carried out among commercial sex worker's (CSW) in different red light areas of Kolkata. By multistage random sampling technique 867 female sex workers (FSW) studied who were belonging to Sonagachi 77.28%, Metiabruz 14.07%, Rampurgali and Khidderpore 8.65% red light areas. Among sex workers surveyed 58.94% were Hindu and 33.33% Muslims. There were 22.07% CSW of foreign origin, out of which 17.99% from Bangladesh and 4.04% from Nepal. Majority of CSW 74.28% were under thirty years of age. The lowest age was 13 years and mean age was 26.55 years. There were 22.26% sex workers under twenty years and 6.92% above forty years of age. About 79.0% of sex workers were illiterate. The average number of clients visiting each sex workers was 2.67, with a range between 1 to 8 clients per day. The average duration for which sex workers remain in the trade was 6 to 7 years. Around 60.09% sex workers were in the trade for five years, while 2.64% were for more than twenty years. Average monthly income of sex workers was around Rs. 500-1000. History of pregnancy was present in 84.66% with one child in 24.91 % to maximum eight in 0.23% sex workers. The mean number of pregnancies was 1.9 per female sex workers. About 36.2% had history of abortion and 65.51 % had living children.