Mobility and sex work: why, where, when? A typology of female-sex-worker mobility in Zimbabwe

Calum Davey, Jeffrey Dirawo, Phillis Mushati, Sitholubuhle Magutshwa, James R. Hargreaves and Frances M. Cowan

Social Science & Medicine, 2019, vol. 220, issue C, 322-330

Abstract: Sex-worker mobility may have implications for health and access to care but has not been described in sub-Saharan Africa. We described sex-worker mobility in Zimbabwe and a mobility typology using data from 2591 and 2839 female sex workers in 14 sites from 2013 and 2016. We used latent class analysis to identify a typology of mobile sex workers. More women travelled for work in 2016 (59%) than in 2013 (27%), usually to find clients with more money (57% of the journeys), spending a median of 21 (2013) and 24 (2016) days away. A five-class mixture model best fitted the data, with 39% women in an infrequent work-mobility class, 21% in a domestic-high-mobility class, 16% in an international-high-mobility class, 16% in an infrequent opportunistic-non-work-mobility class, and 7% who travel with clients. More-mobile classes were better educated; risk behaviours differed by class. Mobility is increasing among sex worker in Zimbabwe, multi-faceted, and not explained by other vulnerabilities.

Keywords: Sex work; Migration; Mobility; Healthcare; HIV (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.11.027

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