Health‑seeking behavior of female sex workers: a systematic review

Aim Female sex workers (FSWs) are particularly susceptible to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) problems due to their occupation. Given that their health needs are often ignored, a review was undertaken to identify the nature, factors, and experiences associated with health-seeking behavior of FSWs worldwide.

Subject and methods We searched four electronic databases (EBSCOhost, ProQuest, Pubmed, and Scopus), along with a manual search in Google Scholar and the citations from retrieved articles on health-seeking behavior of female sex workers. Articles that were peer-reviewed, presented in full-text, written in English language, and published between August 2012 and July 2022, were considered for this study. The review was carried out following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines.

Results The database and manual search yielded 334 studies. Seventeen papers that met our inclusion criteria were included in our review. Our qualitative synthesis resulted in fve themes: sexual and reproductive health (SRH) issues, lack of access and awareness, social stigma, non-SRH matters, and drugs, violence, and abuse.

Conclusion Findings of this review demonstrated that the FSWs faced challenges seeking both SRH and general health needs. They were often victims of social stigma and violence. A number of socioeconomic and cultural factors shaped their experience with regard to healthcare access. Special attention is needed to promote awareness and access to safe healthcare services for FSWs in the future to improve their situation.