110 The Global HIV Epidemics among Sex Workers
survey of HIV knowledge and prevention practices reported working only in the sex work while smaller percentages supplemented their incomes with additional trades (15.7%) or were students (7.5%)(Onyeneho 2009). A similar study of brothel based sex workers in Lagos found that young women (20–24 years) represented 42.5% of the sex worker population (Oyefara 2007). As observed across much of Africa, the history of road transport across Nigeria has led to the development of a social situation that allows for informal sex work to develop in relationship to this transport system. The Nigerian Transport Study was one of the first endeavors to study and describe the social factors and risk for HIV transmission in this context (Orubuloye, Caldwell et al. 1993). Along night truck stops, known as lorry parks, markets and ‘junction’ towns have developed to provide goods and services for long-haul truckers and truckers regularly stayed at the homes of local families; as a result truckers developed relationships with and financially supported local female hawkers (women who sell goods from portable trays balanced on their head or from temporary stalls in markets and often sell sex as well) and/or female residents of the guest houses of each town where they rest (Orubuloye, Caldwell et al. 1993). Brothels also exist in these towns, though a majority of transactional sex occurs in this informal setting. These women, however, may not necessarily identify as female sex workers. Among 467 female hawkers surveyed in Ibadan, approximately half reported supplementing their incomes through paid sexual activity with long distance truckers and some 14 and 13% were involved in monogamous or polygamous marriages, respectively (Orubuloye, Caldwell et al. 1993). Assessments of brothel-based sex workers in cities found that brothel-based sex workers are generally less educated, have more clients, earn less, and are at more risk than those working in in junction towns. Among brothel-based sex workers, there is a lower percentage of married women, ranging from 11% (Onyeneho 2009) to 55% and women report an average of 4 clients per day. Brothel-based sex workers earned a lower average charge per sex act (Ladipo, Ankomah et al. 2002), though may receive higher fees for sexual acts without a condom (Munoz, Adedimeji et al. 2010). The income for sex workers in both settings, however, is substantially higher than what was the national minimum wage per month, at the time of the study (Ladipo, Ankomah et al. 2002). Clients and Partners of Sex Workers. Overall, the estimated proportion in men reporting paying for sex has hovered around 10%, though has shown slight declines since 2005 (Carael, Slaymaker et al. 2006; Futures Group International 2010).