Vaginal washing and lubrication among female sex workers in the Mexico-US border region: implications for the development of vaginal PrEP for HIV prevention

Table 2 Vaginal washing practices among HIV-negative female sex workers in Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico (N = 295)

	Tijuana		Ciudad Juarez		Total		p-value
	n	%	n	%	n	%	p-value
Vaginal washing
Lifetime	123	84.8	94	62.7	217	73.6	< 0.0001
Past month	81	55.9	33	22.0	114	38.6	< 0.0001
Frequency of vaginal washing in the past month^a							0.36
Less than weekly	24	29.6	7	21.2	31	27.2
Once a week	15	18.5	10	30.3	25	21.9
Several times a week	14	17.3	8	24.2	22	19.3
Once a day	13	16.1	2	6.1	15	13.2
Several times a day	15	18.5	6	18.2	21	18.4
Timing of vaginal washing in the past month^a
Before vaginal sex	42	51.9	2	6.1	44	38.6	< 0.0001
Washed before most or all (≥75%) of VS acts with regular clients	33	78.6	2	100.0	35	79.6
Washed before most or all (≥75%) of VS acts with non-regular clients	27	75.0	2	100.0	29	76.3
After vaginal sex	51	63.0	7	21.2	58	50.9	< 0.0001
Washed after most or all (≥75%) of VS acts with regular clients	39	79.6	3	42.9	42	75.0
Washed after most or all (≥75%) of VS acts with non-regular clients	33	78.6	3	42.9	36	73.5
Around menstruation	21	25.9	7	21.2	28	24.6	0.64
While bathing for personal hygiene	58	71.6	27	81.8	85	74.6	0.34
Solutions used for vaginal washing in the past month^a							< 0.0001
Commercial solutions only	15	20.3	25	78.1	40	37.7
Non-commercial solutions only	14	18.9	1	3.1	15	14.2
Both commercial and non-commercial solutions	45	60.8	6	18.8	51	48.1

ISSN: 1471-2458