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Table 1 Socio-demographic and sex work characteristics of female, male and transgender participants in Kenya, Uganda, South Africa and Zimbabwe

From: Human rights abuses and collective resilience among sex workers in four African countries: a qualitative study

Variable

Females Kenya, Mombasa (n = 16)

Females Uganda, Kampala (n = 25)

Females South Africa

Females Zimbabwe, Bulawayo (n = 21)

Male and transgender across sites (n = 30)

Hillbrow, Gauteng Province (n = 15)

Limpopo Province (n = 29)

Age mean years (sd)

29 .0 (3.3)

28.6 (7.1)

30.7 (5.6)

26.7 (4.8)

35.9 (7.5)

25.9 (4.6)

Migration history % (n)

      

  Born outside the city

69 (11)

100 (25)

100 (15)

96 (27)

50 (10)

59 (17)

  Born outside the country

0 (0)

0 (0)

60 (9)

61 (17)

0 (0)

24 (7)

Education completed % (n)

      

  Primary school

19 (3)

63 (15)

7 (1)

17 (5)

48 (10)

20 (6)

  Secondary school

63 (10)

38 (9)

93 (14)

83 (24)

43 (9)

67 (20)

  Tertiary

19 (3)

0 (0)

0 (0)

0 (0)

10 (2)

13 (4)

Mean children (sd)

2.1 (1.1)

2.5 (1.3)

1.5 (0.9)

1.3 (0.9)

2.4 (1.4)

0.3 (0.6)

Other income sources % (n)

6 (1)

20 (5)

33 (5)

69 (20)

52 (11)

23 (7)

Age began sex work

      

 Mean years (sd)

17.6 (3.6)

21.2 (4.4)

25.8 (6.8)

23.1 (4.6)

26.6 (5.0)

19.0 (3.3)

Years doing sex work % (n)

      

  0–2

0 (0)

4 (1)

27 (4)

41 (12)

0 (0)

33 (10)

  3–9

38 (6)

68 (17)

67 (10)

52 (15)

57 (12)

27 (8)

  ≥10

63 (10)

28 (7)

7 (1)

7 (2)

43 (9)

40 (12)

Current workplace(s)*% (n)

      

  Hotel

44 (7)

36 (9)

20 (3)

14 (4)

24 (5)

43 (13)

  Bar or club

56 (9)

72 (18)

60 (9)

24 (7)

57 (12)

67 (20)

  Brothel

50 (8)

48 (12)

47 (7)

3 (1)

0 (0)

17 (5)

  Street

44 (7)

96 (24)

20 (3)

83 (24)

62 (13)

67 (20)

  Home

50 (8)

20 (5)

0 (0)

21 (6)

38 (8)

47 (14)

  1. P values assessing associations between study groups (table columns) and characteristics (table rows) all <0.05. *Multiple-response question; sd standard deviation.