A REPORT on sex workers in Fiji has revealed although the group was vulnerable and a source of risk for the transmission of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), the epidemic was not expanding through the workers.

The report, titled Integrated Biological Behavioural Surveillance Survey and Size Estimation of Sex Workers in Fiji: HIV Prevention Project, was the first-ever large scale quantitative research on sex workers in Fiji and was published in 2014 by the UNAIDS Pacific Office and Ministry of Health.

It revealed that only three positive cases of HIV were recorded by the 298 individuals who participated in the survey.

However, the study found that the high rates and levels of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in the sex workers were higher than the general population.

“Carrying out research to assist prevention efforts is more urgent now than ever before and UNAIDS noted sex work is an evolving phenomenon that is making it increasingly difficult to collect reliable and relevant HIV information,” the report stated.

“There is increased migration and mobility, greater economic uncertainty and the proliferation of networking opportunities such as mobile phones or the internet has enabled sex workers to shift to more indirect, mobile and flexible forms of sex work.”

Pacific Sexual Diversity Network executive director Isikeli Tumaiwakaya Vulavou said the report also included key findings on HIV knowledge, prevention, information sources and access to key services and facilities.

“This is the first time that this strategic information on key populations are now available in the Pacific in relation to HIV risk vulnerability,” he said.

“It will provide the basis to which we will build and strengthen our interventions that specifically target these populations.”

Fiji has more than 600 HIV positive cases.