Equity and Sex Work: An Analysis in Perspective of the Social Determinants of Health

Abstract

There is a context of socio-political inequalities and unmet needs for sex work, which constitute an extreme injustice. The objective of this article is to analyze the social determinants of health that generate inequity in the sex worker population of a Colombian city. Quantitative research with an associative approach was used, and the population consisted of 131 cisgender and transgender sex workers. Snowball sampling was carried out, and the information was entered into the Gender Observatory system and was processed and analyzed with SPSS. Among the results, the average age was 34.24 ± 9.610 years, range 18 to 61 years. A total of 59.6% reported being single, 7.6% had no education, and 29.8% had only primary school education. Fifteen percent were not enrolled in health insurance, and 96.9% reported incomes of less than one minimum  monthly salary. This reflects the vulnerability, inequity and challenges in various dimensions of human development. The conditions of education, health and employment were the social determinants that generate the greatest inequity, therefore, the formulation of public policies for the benefit of sex workers will address these challenges to ensure adequate access to  education, health services and labor rights, with the  empowerment of this group that has been violated to improve their quality of life.