Violence against sex workers and HIV prevention

Sex workers are among those who are most vulnerable to HIV infection in the world today. In low prevalence settings with a concentrated epidemic, such as India, Indonesia, Cambodia and the Russian Federation, the HIV epidemic initially spreads rapidly among sex workers with prevalence reaching as high as 65% in some sex-worker populations. Even in countries with a mature epidemic, sex workers continue to be disproportionately affected with estimated prevalence ranging from 30% to 75%.