**1. Introduction**

274 Immunodeficiency

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This paper draws from a larger piece of research conducted by the authors [1] for the National Advisory Committee on Drugs (NACD) whose remit is to provide advice to the Irish government on problematic drug use in Irish society. Under Action 98 of the Irish National Drug Strategy [2] the NACD was required to carry out research on drug misuse amongst groups who were considered 'at risk'. Prostitutes were identified as one such group. Because of the negative connotations and stigma associated with the word 'prostitute' the research team used the term 'sex-worker', the term favored by the World Health Organisation [3-6] and the United Nations [6].

The objectives of this paper are:


The aim of this paper is to understand the myriad ways in which HIV was contracted and managed by drug-using sex workers.
