Population Size Estimation of Female Sex Workers in Hai Phong, Vietnam: Use of Three Source Capture–Recapture Method

Authors

Ly Thuy Nguyen^{1, *,} , Shreya Patel², Nga Thi Nguyen³, Hoa Hoang Gia³, Henry F. Raymond^4, , Van Thi Hai Hoang^5, , Abu S. Abdul-Quader^6,

¹Division of Global HIV and TB Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Hanoi, Vietnam

²The National Cancer Institute, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, Metabolic Epidemiology Branch, National Institutes of Health, USA

³Department of HIV Surveillance, Monitoring and Evaluation, Provincial HIV/AIDS Control, Hai Phong, Vietnam

⁴Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Rutgers University School of Public Health, Piscataway, NJ, USA

⁵Department of Global Health, School of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Hanoi Medical University, Hanoi, Vietnam

⁶Division of Global HIV and TB Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA

^*Corresponding author. Email: ozx6@cdc.gov

DOI

10.2991/jegh.k.210312.001How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Population size estimate; three source capture–recapture; respondent-driven sampling; female sex worker; successive sampling

Abstract

Introduction: A study was conducted in three districts in Hai Phong province, Vietnam to estimate the population size of the Female Sex Workers (FSW) in June–July 2019.

Methods: The procedures included selection of three districts, compilation of a list of accessible venues where FSW congregate, distribution of first unique objects (first capture) and second unique objects (second capture) to FSW in randomly selected venues and implementation of a Mini-Respondent Driven Sampling (mRDS) Survey (third capture). Population size of the FSW was calculated based on the number of FSW in each round, number of FSW ‘recaptured’ during the second and the third captures. Additionally, personal network size data captured in the mRDS was used to measure the population of FSW within the three districts using Successive Sampling Population Size Estimates (SS-PSE).

Results: The total estimated FSWs in the three selected districts, using Three Source Capture–Recapture (3S-CRC) was 958, which is slightly lower than that estimated using SS-PSE – 1192. The 3S-CRC method yielded a provincial estimate of 1911 while the SS-PSE method resulted in a total of 2379 FSW for the province.

Conclusion: Two techniques produced different PSE at both the district and the province levels and resulted in estimates lower than ones produced using programmatic data. For planning HIV prevention and care service needs among all FSWs, additional studies are needed to estimate the number of sex workers who are not venue-based and use social media platforms to sell services.

Copyright

© 2021 The Authors. Published by Atlantis Press International B.V.

Open Access

This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

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TY  - JOUR
AU  - Ly Thuy Nguyen
AU  - Shreya Patel
AU  - Nga Thi Nguyen
AU  - Hoa Hoang Gia
AU  - Henry F. Raymond
AU  - Van Thi Hai Hoang
AU  - Abu S. Abdul-Quader
PY  - 2021
DA  - 2021/03/20
TI  - Population Size Estimation of Female Sex Workers in Hai Phong, Vietnam: Use of Three Source Capture–Recapture Method
JO  - Journal of Epidemiology and Global Health
SP  - 194
EP  - 199
VL  - 11
IS  - 2
SN  - 2210-6014
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/jegh.k.210312.001
DO  - 10.2991/jegh.k.210312.001
ID  - Nguyen2021
ER  -