Marseille 2007
| Abstract #540 - Pre-marital sexual behavior among female garment factory workers and HIV risk in Sri Lanka | ||||
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Session: 37.5: Navigating risk and safety (Parallel) on Tuesday @ 14.00-16.00 in Auditorium/Overflow Chaired by Susan M. Kiene, Danuta Kasprzyk Authors: Presenting Author: Ms Asankthi Fernando - Advisors for Scientific and Health Intelligence, Sri Lanka |
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| Additional Authors: Dr Hemantha Wickramatillake, | ||||
| Aim: The Garment industry has become one of the major foreign exchange earners in Sri Lanka. This industry has expanded over the last three decades to such an extent that it has absorbed a major portion of labor strength into this industry. Among the employees in this sector, females form the vast majority. Most of these females are unmarried and hail from rural backgrounds. A change of living habitat and new freedom bring about many changes in their sexual behavior. In fact, most international organizations and the national health sector have identified this group as a most vulnerable group for HIV transmission. Considering this background, and the risks of sexually transmitted infections, the objective of this study was to examine the patterns of pre-marital sexual behavior practiced by this group. | ||||
| Method / Issue: A questionnaire was designed to identify the types of sexual practices followed by this group and was used in a selected sample of garment manufacturing factories in Sri Lanka. Focus group discussions, further, enhanced the findings. | ||||
| Results / Comments: It was observed that most of the females lived in hostels with very poor hygienic and living conditions. A large number of females shared one room in these hostels. Thus close physical contact, mostly due to sharing of beds, has led to a high prevalence of lesbianism among this group. Among heterosexual practices, inter crural sex, oral sex, and interpersonal masturbation are the popular methods practiced. It was observed that they severely lacked knowledge on the risks involved owing to their sexual behavioural patterns thus leading to risk of pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. For instance, many thought that inter crural sex does not cause pregnancy. Of those who are aware of contraception, many males used condoms and a lesser number of females took oral contraceptives. Lesser prevalence of the latter is due to the fact that, although there was awareness on oral contraception, most females feared the possibility of side effects of contraception. | ||||
| Discussion: Many unmarried girls and boys in the industry indulged in casual sex with known and sometimes unknown persons. They are not totally aware of the risks of pregnancy and STIs. There is an urgent need to enhance awareness programs, on sexual practices, for this vulnerable group. | ||||
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