Women who trade sex for money or drugs (sex traders) are an important group to receive HIV risk reduction messages. To deliver messages effectively, it is useful to know where sex traders get information about HIV. Data from street-based interviews in three cities were analyzed to determine sources of HIV information (mass media, small media, interpersonal contacts) for sex traders, and the relationships between receiving HTV information and HIV prevention knowledge and behaviors. Television was cited most as a source of information about HTV; sources varied by city and injecting drug use. Exposure to HIV information through small media and interpersonal channels was associated with the ability to identify primary routes of HIV transmission and being tested for HIV; no associations were found for mass media. The findings suggest small media and interpersonal channels can reach female sex traders who may be at highest risk (e.g. injection drug users), and receiving messages through these channels may be related to HIV risk reduction knowledge and behavior. © 1995 Oxford University Press.

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female priority journal high risk population medical information prostitution risk management Human immunodeficiency virus infection Article acquired immune deficiency syndrome television interpersonal communication human health education