Background:

HIV/AIDS is a pandemic with serious consequences. It affects such vulnerable groups as street children; adolescents and particularly females.

Methodology:

In 1999; a study was conducted among 686 randomly selected single females aged 10 to 24 years; who hawked food and other items in motor parks; in order to identify their HIV/AIDS risk and examine their possible role in its transmission; as a baseline for an intervention. Focus Group Discussion and adapted Participatory Action Research methodology were used to obtain information.

Results:

Eighty-one per cent had heard about HIV/AIDS and its sexual transmission. Thirty-eight per cent did not abstain from sexual intercourse; 54.0 of these had multiple partners; 38.0 used the condom; and 7.4 had ever been raped during the course of their jobs as hawkers. Their risk perception was poor.

Conclusion:

This target population is at high risk of contracting HIV infection and could transmit the infection within the community; thereby contributing significantly to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Female adolescent hawkers should be targeted with appropriate programmes that would empower them for the prevention of HIV/AIDS