South Africa Health Monitoring Study (SAHMS)

To continue UCSF’s commitment in helping the CDC’s Global AIDS Program (GAP) achieve its goals in GAP countries and regions, this project will strengthen local capacity, as well as collect vital data on the HIV epidemic among Sex Workers (SW) in South Africa. To this end this project has 4 objectives:

1. To estimate the prevalence of HIV and syphilis, and associated risk behaviors among female sex workers in Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Durban, South Africa.
2. To estimate the population size and distribution of SW’s at these three locations.
3. To identify and assess determinants of access and utilization of health and social welfare programs in South Africa among sex workers.
4. To enhance the national capacity to conduct Integrated Bio-Behavioral Surveillance (IBBS) for key populations in South Africa as a key component of a strengthened second generation national HIV surveillance system.

This study is the first of its kind in South Africa and will be conducted in Johannesburg, Durban, and Cape Town. We will use key informant interviews, focus group discussions, and mapping as an initial Formative Assessment to guide the implementation of a more in-depth IBBS.