A twenty minutes’ drive along the modern Thika superhighway will lead you to Kasarani area and a further ten minutes will bring you to a sprawling Mwiki residential area synonymous with flats for rentals.

Many that live in Mwiki are average earners who commute to the city using matatus or commuter trains that have a stopover in the area.

But whereas many residents of Mwiki would wake up every morning and prepare to go to work in the city, a group of four middle-aged women who have rented a three bedroomed house in the area would be going to their phones and computers to look for clients, who will in one way or another find their way to the house, or direct them where to meet to have sex or provide escort services.

The women are sex workers who have gone digital.

The world’s oldest profession is adopting a new business model; street-walkers are heading to the information highway.

Mary (not her real name) has agreed to share her experience with me on one condition, that I don’t expose her or take any pictures of her or the house she lives in with her co sex workers.

She tells me she hails from Siaya County and her parents know that she works in a big office in Nairobi since she drives a fairly good car and she affords life’s luxuries that would otherwise be associated with those who are employed and earn good salaries.

ADAPTED FROM AIDSMAP

A recent study published by AIDSMAP and analyzed locally by different research firms from data collected at seven different Sex Workers Outreach Programs in Nairobi from a sample of 33,560 women indicates that the number testing positive for HIV has dropped by more than two-thirds between 2008 and 2017.

While no single intervention can be identified as to the underlying cause in the decreasing numbers, it suggests that increasing HIV awareness, testing and treatment in Kenya are reaching this population of women, despite the criminalization of sex work. It is estimated that female sex workers in Kenya are almost ten times more likely to contract HIV than non-sex workers, so they are a key population to target.

The clinics use peer support and outreach workers to recruit female sex workers. When signing up to use the clinic’s services, each woman was offered an HIV test, which was used to monitor rates of HIV. Further information was collected by analyzing questionnaires that the women were asked to complete when attending. Only 78% of the women completed this information, as it was not mandatory for enrolment into the clinic.