International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health | April 2017 | Vol 4 | Issue 4 Page 886 International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health Paul R et al. Int J Community Med Public Health. 2017 Apr;4(4):886-890 http://www.ijcmph.com pISSN 2394-6032 | eISSN 2394-6040 Review Article Factors influencing health-care access of female commercial sex workers in India: an in-depth review Rudrajit Paul 1 *, Meera Suresh 2 , Jayati Mondal 3 INTRODUCTION Commercial sex workers (CSW) comprise a marginalized and vulnerable section of any society. As a group, CSW includes male, female, children and transgenders. In this in-depth review, we will concentrate on only adult female CSWs belonging to the reproductive age group (15-49 years) in India. We have decided to focus on this demographic group as it is the largest section among CSWs in India. The exact number of female CSWs in any region is difficult to estimate because of the covert nature of this profession. One estimate in India, done by mapping and census, puts the number of CSWs at 0.2 to 0.5% of the adult female population of any region. 1 In another study, it was estimated that up to 1% of the adult female population of reproductive age may be engaged in commercial sex in certain parts of India. 2 However, while brothel based CSWs are easier to reach, non-brothel based CSWs are often untraceable. This latter unorganised group is also likely to be more vulnerable in terms of age and unmet healthcare needs. In one study from Andhra Pradesh, India it was found that nearly 50% of home based female CSWs were less than 24 years of age. 3 CSWs have diverse health problems. Prevalence of various diseases like sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) is very high among CSWs. A study from Surat, India showed 43% prevalence of HIV and 23% prevalence of Syphilis in female CSWs. 4 Another study from south India found that female CSWs had very high levels of alcohol and tobacco abuse and up to 78% of them had psychiatric co-morbidity. 5 In summary, female CSWs in India comprise a large and vulnerable population with high prevalence of various health problems. In this review, we aim to review (based on available literature) some of the problems in accessing health-care faced by this vulnerable population. ABSTRACT Commercial sex workers (CSW) are a vulnerable section of the society with diverse health problems. However, different surveys have consistently shown limited healthcare access by this group. There are a lot of factors, related both to the health care facility and the potential users, which influence this access. In this review, we have analysed some of the factors affecting healthcare access of female CSWs in India. The analysis has been done according to a standard conceptual framework. Certain remedial measures have also been proposed at the end. Keywords: Commercial sex worker, Healthcare access, Barrier, Policy 1 Dept. of Medicine, Medical College Kolkata. West Bengal, India 2 Program & Quality Control Manager, KDPP-KSM, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences & Technology Trivandrum, Kerala, India 3 RMO, Chittaranjan Seva Sadan, Kolkata, West Bengal, India Received: 20 February 2017 Accepted: 14 March 2017 *Correspondence: Dr. Rudrajit Paul, E-mail: r.paul.medicalcollege@gmail.com Copyright: © the author(s), publisher and licensee Medip Academy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20171302