Sushena Reza‐paul
Biographic Data
| ID | 3838331 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Sushena Reza‐paul |
| GIVEN NAMES | Sushena |
| FAMILY NAME | Reza‐paul |
| SIGNATURE | PAUL S R |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Manitoba |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 20 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 21 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 20 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2009 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
‘Until we tell them, they will not understand’
HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is not widely available in India. We explored the needs and perspectives of men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender persons about PrEP in Delhi, India. We accessed these key populations through targeted intervention (TI) projects for HIV prevention in Delhi. We conducted three focus group discussions (FGD) with community members, and four in-depth interviews (IDI) with key informants. We coded them usin…
Integrating Anogenital Health Care Into HIV Programs for Queer Men in Kenya
Amid shifting political and funding landscapes for HIV prevention, how do we recognize the localized knowledges and skills accumulated at the grassroots, and which undergird community-led health service delivery for "key populations"? Lateralization advances an alternative implementation approach for a new generation of HIV programs that not only meets the global health policy direction of "integrative health" but also centres community insights …
Therapeutic Trajectories of Kenyan Queer Men with Anal Warts
Human papillomavirus (HPV)-related anal infection is high among African gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (MSM). In Kenya, queer men living with HPV-related anal warts often avoid health facilities, fearing homophobic retaliation from providers. In this paper, we present data collected over 24 months of ethnographic research, foregrounding the therapeutic trajectories of 35 men with advanced cases of anal warts requiring surgical…
Toward improving anal health care among GBMSM in Kenya
We aimed to illuminate the challenges of treating anal diseases among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM) in a homophobic climate amid resource constraints. Building on a long-term Kenyan-Canadian collaboration, an anal healthcare intervention study, known as the WEMAH Project, was initiated in January 2022. The initial collaborative work strengthened existing anal health services provided at a community-based clinic serving…
Beyond remedicalisation
Global health policy-makers have called for demonstration projects to better understand pre-exposure prophylaxis' (PrEP) effectiveness across geographies and populations. Ashodaya , a sex worker collective, initiated a PrEP project in Mysore, India. We conducted a project ethnography to explore the role that community participation played within the project. Although the project proved immensely successful in terms of retention and adherence, to …
In Search of 'Success
We illustrate the lively existence of the notion of success in the unfolding of a PrEP project led by a sex worker organization in India. In what we call the "search for success," particular attention is placed on the role that care plays among sex workers guiding the project. Drawing on our ethnographic work, we highlight how the search for success underlines particular affective dispositions that are underscored by overlapping temporal register…
Beyond biomedical and comorbidity approaches
We explored general health and psychosocial characteristics among male sex workers and other men who have sex with men in Nairobi, Kenya. A total of 595 MSM/MSW were recruited into the study. We assessed group differences among those who self-reported HIV positive (SR-HIVP) and those who self-reported HIV negative (SR-HIVN) and by affinity group membership. Quality of life among SR-HIVP participants was significantly worse compared to SR-HIVN par…
The Ashodaya PrEP project
To inform PrEP roll out, Ashodaya Samithi, a sex workers' collective, conducted a community-led prospective demonstration project among female sex workers in Mysore and Mandya, India. Following a community preparedness phase and pre-screening, participants were recruited for clinical screening and enrolment, provided PrEP as part of combination HIV prevention, and followed for 16 months. Adherence was measured by self-reported pill intake and by …
Pragmatic women
Persisting inequities in maternal health pose a particular burden for marginalised populations such as sex workers. However, current literature on pregnancy and sex work is limited to mostly quantitative studies focusing on contraception use, unplanned and/or undesired pregnancies and unsafe abortions. Additionally, emphasis has been placed on the prevention, treatment and care of STIs and HIV with less attention accorded to women's pregnancy des…
A community empowerment approach to the HIV response among sex workers
Global epidemiology of HIV among female sex workers
No one was there to care for us’
Under the umbrella of the Bill and Melinda Gates-funded HIV initiative in India, the Mysore-based sex workers' (SWs) collective Ashodaya Samithi focused on improving its members' living and working conditions through community-led structural interventions, including community mobilisation, advocacy, peer-led support, and health promotional activities. Based on four months of ethnographic fieldwork, this article examines the care and support activ…
Inequity in costs of seeking sexual and reproductive health services in India and Kenya
Highly regressive spending on SRH services highlights the heavier burden borne by the poorest when seeking care in resource-constrained settings such as India and Kenya. The large proportion of service users, particularly in India, relying on money received from family members to finance care seeking suggests that access would be more difficult for those with weak social ties, small social networks or weak bargaining positions within the family -…
Going beyond the clinic
Community-based participatory research (CBPR) has gained considerable popularity in recent decades given its ability to address social inequities, improve health outcomes and enhance community participation and ownership with respect to various health-related interventions. This paper describes the engagements of a community of self-identified men who have sex with men, most of whom also identified as male sex workers, in a long-term iterative an…
Beyond internalised stigma
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has poured a tremendous amount of resources into epidemic prevention in India's high HIV prevalence zones, through their Avahan initiative. These community-centred programmes operate under the assumption that fostering community-based organisational development and empowering the community to take charge of HIV prevention and education will help to transform the wider social inequalities that inhibit access t…
Increasing access and ownership of clinical services at an HIV prevention project for sex workers in Mysore, India
Increasing sex workers' (SWs) access to and utilisation of health care services is a key part of HIV prevention. An HIV prevention project in Mysore, India, has been particularly successful in fostering a new norm of health care seeking among local SWs while facilitating community ownership of health care delivery. This paper describes how the use of occupational health ideologies, along with the creation of enabling environments, facilitated the…
Confronting structural violence in sex work
Evidence from community-led HIV prevention projects suggests that structural interventions may result in reduced rates of HIV and STIs. The complex relationship between empowerment and confronting stigma, discrimination and physical abuse necessitates further investigation into the impact that such interventions have on the personal risks for sex workers. This article aims to describe lived experiences of members from a sex worker's collective in…
Prevalence of HIV and sexually transmitted infections among clients of female sex workers in Karnataka, India
This study fills in important gaps in knowledge regarding clients in southern India. The strong association between HIV and HSV-2 infections highlights the complications in designing effective prevention, intervention and management programs of this well-hidden population
Sex in the city
On Becoming a Male Sex Worker in Mysore
Growing public health attention has been placed on the HIV vulnerability of males who sell sex to males in India. However, there is little research that outlines the trajectories through which males come to be involved in practicing sex work in India. Locating "male sex work" within a vibrant social, political, and erotic landscape, this article explores the intertwining of "sexual subjectivity" and "sex work." The authors refer to 70 sexual life…
On Becoming a Male Sex Worker in Mysore
Growing public health attention has been placed on the HIV vulnerability of males who sell sex to males in India. However, there is little research that outlines the trajectories through which males come to be involved in practicing sex work in India. Locating "male sex work" within a vibrant social, political, and erotic landscape, this article explores the intertwining of "sexual subjectivity" and "sex work." The authors refer to 70 sexual life…
In Search of 'Success
We illustrate the lively existence of the notion of success in the unfolding of a PrEP project led by a sex worker organization in India. In what we call the "search for success," particular attention is placed on the role that care plays among sex workers guiding the project. Drawing on our ethnographic work, we highlight how the search for success underlines particular affective dispositions that are underscored by overlapping temporal register…
Sex in the city
On Becoming a Male Sex Worker in Mysore
Growing public health attention has been placed on the HIV vulnerability of males who sell sex to males in India. However, there is little research that outlines the trajectories through which males come to be involved in practicing sex work in India. Locating "male sex work" within a vibrant social, political, and erotic landscape, this article explores the intertwining of "sexual subjectivity" and "sex work." The authors refer to 70 sexual life…
Confronting structural violence in sex work
Evidence from community-led HIV prevention projects suggests that structural interventions may result in reduced rates of HIV and STIs. The complex relationship between empowerment and confronting stigma, discrimination and physical abuse necessitates further investigation into the impact that such interventions have on the personal risks for sex workers. This article aims to describe lived experiences of members from a sex worker's collective in…
Prevalence of HIV and sexually transmitted infections among clients of female sex workers in Karnataka, India
This study fills in important gaps in knowledge regarding clients in southern India. The strong association between HIV and HSV-2 infections highlights the complications in designing effective prevention, intervention and management programs of this well-hidden population
Sex in the city
Increasing access and ownership of clinical services at an HIV prevention project for sex workers in Mysore, India
Increasing sex workers' (SWs) access to and utilisation of health care services is a key part of HIV prevention. An HIV prevention project in Mysore, India, has been particularly successful in fostering a new norm of health care seeking among local SWs while facilitating community ownership of health care delivery. This paper describes how the use of occupational health ideologies, along with the creation of enabling environments, facilitated the…
Going beyond the clinic
Community-based participatory research (CBPR) has gained considerable popularity in recent decades given its ability to address social inequities, improve health outcomes and enhance community participation and ownership with respect to various health-related interventions. This paper describes the engagements of a community of self-identified men who have sex with men, most of whom also identified as male sex workers, in a long-term iterative an…
Beyond internalised stigma
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has poured a tremendous amount of resources into epidemic prevention in India's high HIV prevalence zones, through their Avahan initiative. These community-centred programmes operate under the assumption that fostering community-based organisational development and empowering the community to take charge of HIV prevention and education will help to transform the wider social inequalities that inhibit access t…
A community empowerment approach to the HIV response among sex workers
Global epidemiology of HIV among female sex workers
No one was there to care for us’
Under the umbrella of the Bill and Melinda Gates-funded HIV initiative in India, the Mysore-based sex workers' (SWs) collective Ashodaya Samithi focused on improving its members' living and working conditions through community-led structural interventions, including community mobilisation, advocacy, peer-led support, and health promotional activities. Based on four months of ethnographic fieldwork, this article examines the care and support activ…
Inequity in costs of seeking sexual and reproductive health services in India and Kenya
Highly regressive spending on SRH services highlights the heavier burden borne by the poorest when seeking care in resource-constrained settings such as India and Kenya. The large proportion of service users, particularly in India, relying on money received from family members to finance care seeking suggests that access would be more difficult for those with weak social ties, small social networks or weak bargaining positions within the family -…
Beyond biomedical and comorbidity approaches
We explored general health and psychosocial characteristics among male sex workers and other men who have sex with men in Nairobi, Kenya. A total of 595 MSM/MSW were recruited into the study. We assessed group differences among those who self-reported HIV positive (SR-HIVP) and those who self-reported HIV negative (SR-HIVN) and by affinity group membership. Quality of life among SR-HIVP participants was significantly worse compared to SR-HIVN par…
The Ashodaya PrEP project
To inform PrEP roll out, Ashodaya Samithi, a sex workers' collective, conducted a community-led prospective demonstration project among female sex workers in Mysore and Mandya, India. Following a community preparedness phase and pre-screening, participants were recruited for clinical screening and enrolment, provided PrEP as part of combination HIV prevention, and followed for 16 months. Adherence was measured by self-reported pill intake and by …
Pragmatic women
Persisting inequities in maternal health pose a particular burden for marginalised populations such as sex workers. However, current literature on pregnancy and sex work is limited to mostly quantitative studies focusing on contraception use, unplanned and/or undesired pregnancies and unsafe abortions. Additionally, emphasis has been placed on the prevention, treatment and care of STIs and HIV with less attention accorded to women's pregnancy des…
Beyond remedicalisation
Global health policy-makers have called for demonstration projects to better understand pre-exposure prophylaxis' (PrEP) effectiveness across geographies and populations. Ashodaya , a sex worker collective, initiated a PrEP project in Mysore, India. We conducted a project ethnography to explore the role that community participation played within the project. Although the project proved immensely successful in terms of retention and adherence, to …
In Search of 'Success
We illustrate the lively existence of the notion of success in the unfolding of a PrEP project led by a sex worker organization in India. In what we call the "search for success," particular attention is placed on the role that care plays among sex workers guiding the project. Drawing on our ethnographic work, we highlight how the search for success underlines particular affective dispositions that are underscored by overlapping temporal register…
Toward improving anal health care among GBMSM in Kenya
We aimed to illuminate the challenges of treating anal diseases among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM) in a homophobic climate amid resource constraints. Building on a long-term Kenyan-Canadian collaboration, an anal healthcare intervention study, known as the WEMAH Project, was initiated in January 2022. The initial collaborative work strengthened existing anal health services provided at a community-based clinic serving…
Integrating Anogenital Health Care Into HIV Programs for Queer Men in Kenya
Amid shifting political and funding landscapes for HIV prevention, how do we recognize the localized knowledges and skills accumulated at the grassroots, and which undergird community-led health service delivery for "key populations"? Lateralization advances an alternative implementation approach for a new generation of HIV programs that not only meets the global health policy direction of "integrative health" but also centres community insights …
Therapeutic Trajectories of Kenyan Queer Men with Anal Warts
Human papillomavirus (HPV)-related anal infection is high among African gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (MSM). In Kenya, queer men living with HPV-related anal warts often avoid health facilities, fearing homophobic retaliation from providers. In this paper, we present data collected over 24 months of ethnographic research, foregrounding the therapeutic trajectories of 35 men with advanced cases of anal warts requiring surgical…
‘Until we tell them, they will not understand’
HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is not widely available in India. We explored the needs and perspectives of men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender persons about PrEP in Delhi, India. We accessed these key populations through targeted intervention (TI) projects for HIV prevention in Delhi. We conducted three focus group discussions (FGD) with community members, and four in-depth interviews (IDI) with key informants. We coded them usin…
Medicine (15 works) · Sex work and related issues (15 works) · HIV, Drug Use, Sexual Risk (13 works) · Sociology (13 works) · HIV/AIDS Research and Interventions (12 works) · Population (10 works) · Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV (9 works) · Nursing (9 works) · Political science (9 works) · Environmental health (8 works)