This open access book provides a comprehensive overview of the health inequities and human rights issues faced by sex workers globally across diverse contexts, and outlines evidence-based strategies and best practices.Sex workers face severe health and social inequities, largely as the result of structural factors including punitive and criminalized legal environments, stigma, and social and economic exclusion and marginalization. Although previous work has largely emphasized an elevated burden and gaps in HIV and sexually transmitted infection (STI) services in sex work, less attention has been paid to the broader health and human rights concerns faced by sex workers. This contributed volume addresses this gap. The chapters feature a variety of perspectives including academic, community, implementing partners, and government to synthesize research evidence as well as lessons learned from local-level experiences across different regions, and are organized under three parts:

Is the first book synthesizing the health inequities and related human rights issues faced by sex workers globally

Chapter 1. Overview and Evidence-Based Recommendations to Address Health and Human Rights Inequities Faced by Sex Workers.- Part I. Burden of Health and Human Rights Inequities Faced by Sex Workers Globally.- Chapter 2. The Epidemiology of HIV Among Sex Workers Around the World: Implications for Research, Programs, and Policy.- Chapter 3. Global Burden of Violence and Other Human Rights Violations Against Sex Workers.- Chapter 4. Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Inequities Among Sex Workers Across the Life Course.- Chapter 5. Exploring the Protective Role of Sex Work Social Cohesion in Contexts of Violence and Criminalisation: A Case Study with Gender-Diverse Sex Workers in Jamaica.- Chapter 6. Patterns and Epidemiology of Illicit Drug Use Among Sex Workers Globally: A Systematic Review.- Part II. Structural Determinants of Health and Human Rights Inequities in Sex Work.- Chapter 7. Criminalised Interactions with Law Enforcement and Impacts on Health and Safety in the Contextof Different Legislative Frameworks Governing Sex Work Globally.- Chapter 8. Stigma, Denial of Health Services, and Other Human Rights Violations Faced by Sex Workers in Africa: 'My eyes were full of tears throughout walking towards the clinic that I was referred to'.- Chapter 9. Criminalisation, Health, and Labour Rights Among Im/migrant Sex Workers Globally.- Part III. Evidence-Based Services and Best Practices: Opportunities for Action.- Chapter 10. Sex Worker-led Provision of Services in New Zealand: Optimising Health and Safety in a Decriminalised Context.- Chapter 11. Best Practices and Challenges to Sex Worker Community Empowerment and Mobilization Strategies to Promote Health and Human Rights.- Chapter 12. Reimagining Sex Work Venues: Occupational Health, Safety, and Rights in Indoor Workplaces.- Chapter 13. Integrated Interventions to Address Sex Workers' Needs and Realities: Academic and Community Insights on Incorporating Structural, Behavioural, and Biomedical Approaches.