This report presents the main findings of a regional study in Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe under the Hands Off programme. The research was designed and conducted by sex workers and partners in the Hands Off consortium.

The results provide insight into the levels of violence experienced by sex workers; the type of perpetrators, underlying factors and variables that increase risk of violence.

Regionally the quantitative part entailed 1895 surveys conducted by 37 sex workers who were trained to interview their peers. For the quantitative part of the study researchers conducted 79 semi-structured in-depth interviews and 43 focus groups discussions with 218 sex workers.