Violence is one of the primary contextual factors that significantly raise sex workers’ sexually transmitted infection risk. The current study examines how violence affects sexual health behavior among commercial female sex workers in a red light district in Calcutta, India. The study which employs in-depth interviews of 37 commercial female sex workers also discusses an innovative multilayered strategy devised by the sex workers to combat violence through a community mobilization drive. The current study shows that the sex workers can confront the system that precipitates violence and actively engage with it to mitigate the impact of structural barriers to empowerment.

This article investigates the impact of COVID-19 on the health and lived experiences of the transgender community in India. In particular, the study analyses how COVID-19 affects the lives of the transgender community in terms of their interaction with the government policymaking and identity negotiation, livelihoods, access to health resources, availability of gender transition services and status of mental health. The analysis shows that the COVID-19 pandemic and the government strategies to curb the spread of infection have exacerbated the challenges faced by the transgender community in India and threatened their survival. As disease outbreaks traditionally perpetuate gender inequities and increase vulnerabilities borne by marginalised groups, the analysis has implications for purposefully creating appropriate platforms for participation of the transgender community and designing and delivering suitable programs and services to enhance their welling and human dignity.

This article examines how participation frames health communication strategies in the Sonagachi Project. The current research, which involves a study of 37 commercial female sex workers in a red-light district of India, investigates how the participation of target audiences in the enunciation of health problems in HIV/AIDS intervention projects engenders change. The study analyzed how a participatory framework in an HIV/sexually transmitted infection intervention project among sex workers addresses sociostructural constraints that affect the lives of the sex workers. The article aims to investigate how participation engages the sex workers in roles of power and decision-making within a health intervention program directed toward curbing sexually transmitted infections.

The current study, which expects to fill in the gap in research on transgender sex workers in India, examines the sexual identity negotiation, risk perception and condom compliance, sexual health screening and testing behavior, contextual barriers to healthcare seeking, and barriers to community mobilization among this population. The study was conducted in the red-light districts of Kolkata and rural subdivisions of West Bengal, and Eastern India. Transgender sex workers comprise 15% of the sex workers’ populace in India, yet they are an understudied and underserved group in the commercial sex sector. It is anticipated that the study will help to formulate future programmatic interventions that can cater more effectively to the health needs of Indian transgender commercial sex workers, contribute to the HIV/STI risk reduction among this group, and reduce barriers to attaining health.