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Epidemiology
Estimating the population of female sex workers in two Chinese cities on the basis of the HIV/AIDS behavioural surveillance approach combined with a multiplier method
  1. Dapeng Zhang5,
  2. Fan Lv1,
  3. Liyan Wang1,
  4. Liangxian Sun2,
  5. Jian Zhou3,
  6. Wenyi Su4,
  7. Peng Bi5
  1. 1Department of Epidemiology, The National Centre for AIDS/STD Control and Prevention, Beijing, China
  2. 2The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Guizhou, China
  3. 3The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Guiyang, China
  4. 4The Centre for STD Control and Prevention, Xingyi, China
  5. 5The Department of Public Health, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia
  1. Correspondence to:
 D Zhang
 Department of Epidemiology, National Centre for AIDS/STD Control and Prevention, 27 Nanwei Road, Beijing 100050, China; dapeng.zhang{at}adelaide.edu.au

Abstract

Objective: To estimate the size of the population of female sex workers (FSWs) on the basis of the HIV/AIDS behavioural surveillance approach in two Chinese cities, using a multiplier method.

Method: Relevant questions were inserted into the questionnaires given to two behavioural surveillance groups—female attendees of sexually transmitted disease (STD) clinics and FSWs. The size of the FSW population was derived by multiplying the number of FSWs in selected STD clinics during the study period by the proportion of FSW population who reported having attended the selected STD clinics during the same period.

Results: The size of the FSW population in the urban area of Xingyi, China, was estimated to be about 2500 (95% CI 2000 to 3400). This accounted for 3.6% of the total urban adult female population. There were an estimated 17 500 FSWs in the urban area of Guiyang, China (95% CI 10 300 to 31 900) or about 3.4% of its total urban adult female population (rounded to the nearest 100).

Conclusions: The multiplier method could be a useful and cost-effective approach to estimate the FSW population, especially suitable in countries where HIV behavioural surveillance has been established in high-risk populations.

  • BSS, behavioural and social science
  • CRC, capture–recapture
  • FSW, female sex worker
  • STD, sexually transmitted disease

https://doi.org/10.1136/sti.2006.022194

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    Footnotes

    • Published Online First 7 November 2006

    • Competing interests: None declared.

    • Contributions: DZ and LW conceived the idea of this manuscript, generated the initial survey protocol, and participated in the data collection and data analysis. FL was the PI for this project and supervised the whole survey. LS and JZ participated in the Guiyang study design, implementation and data collection. WS participated in the design and implementation of the survey in Xingyi. PB provided suggestions for the study design and data analysis, as well as review and comment on the manuscript.