Where do sex workers go for health care? A community based study in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire

Objectives: To describe health seeking behaviour of female sex workers in A bidjan, Cote d'Ivoire. Methods: A population based survey among a representative sample of 500 fem ale sex workers and six focus group discussions. Results: The sites of first encounter for care for the last STI episode inc luded a public hospital or health centre (28%), a private clinic (16%), a c onfidential clinic (13%), a pharmacy (13%), and the informal sector (23%). The agreement between preferred and actual services used was weak (kappa 0. 16). Conclusions: Sex workers expressed interest in seeking STI care in a wide r ange of public and private healthcare facilities. Those services should be upgraded to better respond to their sexual health needs.