Top Centres are mentioned in the new WHO publication on implementing HIV programmes for sex workers.

http://www.who.int/hiv/pub/sti/sex_worker_implementation/en/index.html

It is a relief to see that Top no longer takes all responsibility or credit for decreased prevalence among them. In the last paragraph.

BTW the new WHO guidance sets impossibly high standards for programmes that are meant to be run by sex workers. Or anyone else.

Jamie

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The Targeted Outreach Program (TOP), a programme of Population Services International (PSI) which
began in 2003, provides sexual health services for female sex workers and men who have sex with men
in Myanmar. TOP’s community-based approach engages community members as community outreach
workers, field staff and eventually as management.
Sex workers are involved in all aspects of planning, distributing, and promoting condoms. They identify
hotspots for condom distribution as well as specific outlets and venues. Community outreach workers
provide condoms to sex workers during outreach to complement PSI’s social marketing efforts. In addition,
TOP builds social support for condom use among sex workers through programming at its 18 safe spaces
(drop-in centres).
TOP has been particularly successful in promoting the female condom. Community outreach workers
provide one-on-one counselling on female condom use, including demonstrations using a female pelvic
model. While TOP has found that proper use of the female condom requires several demonstrations, these
skills-building sessions have successfully increased female condom use among female sex workers, and
further demand generation activities are planned.
In 2012 TOP distributed more than 1.2 million male condoms and over 110,000 female condoms to sex workers
through community-led outreach. PSI also sells socially marketed condoms and lubricants in outlets close to
sex work venues. Through a combination of free distribution and socially marketed condoms and lubricants,
TOP ensures that sex workers and clients have access to high-quality, affordable, and accessible condoms
and lubricants when and where they need them.
Positive indicators of behaviour change and HIV prevalence among sex workers in Myanmar cannot be
directly attributed to TOP but are highly correlated with its efforts. Surveys by the government, WHO and
PSI estimate that HIV prevalence among female sex workers was 7.1% in 2012, a sharp decrease from
27.5% in 2004 and 18.4% in 2008.