Contraception and Clean Needles: Feasibility of Combining Mobile Reproductive Health and Needle Exchange Services for Female Exotic Dancers

Young women engaged in exotic dancing have a higher need for reproductive health services than women not in this profession, and many also use drugs or exchange sex for money or drugs. Few report receiving reproductive health services. We describe a public health, academic, and community partnership...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:American journal of public health (1971) 2012-10, Vol.102 (10), p.1833-1836
Main Authors: MOORE, Eva, HAN, Jennifer, SERIO-CHAPMAN, Christine, MOBLEY, Cynthia, WATSON, Catherine, TERPLAN, Mishka
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Biological and medical sciences
Birth control
Case management
Clubs
Community Health Services
Contraception
Dancing
Drugs
Emergency medical care
Family planning
Feasibility Studies
Female
Field Action Report
General aspects
Harm Reduction
Health care
Health insurance
Health services
Hepatitis
Humans
Investigations
Medical sciences
Miscellaneous
Needle exchange programs
Occupational Health
Outreach services
Pregnancy
Public health
Public health. Hygiene
Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine
Reproductive Health
Reproductive Health Services
Sex industry
Sex Workers
Sexually transmitted diseases
STD
Studies
Vans
Womens health
Young Adult
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Summary:Young women engaged in exotic dancing have a higher need for reproductive health services than women not in this profession, and many also use drugs or exchange sex for money or drugs. Few report receiving reproductive health services. We describe a public health, academic, and community partnership that provided reproductive health services on needle exchange mobile vans in the "red light district" in downtown Baltimore, Maryland. Women made 220 visits to the vans in the first 21 months of the program's operation, and 65% of these visits involved provision of contraception. Programmatic costs were feasible. Joint provision of needle exchange and reproductive health services targeting exotic dancers has the potential to reduce unintended pregnancies and link pregnant, substance-abusing women to reproductive care, and such programs should be implemented more widely.
ISSN:0090-0036
1541-0048
DOI:10.2105/AJPH.2012.300842