Shot in the arm for Gweru sex workers

23 Jun, 2019 - 00:06 0 Views

The Sunday Mail

The Centre for Sexual Health and HIV and Aids Research in Zimbabwe (CeSHHAR) has come up with a cocktail of strategies, including community empowerment approaches, with the aim of reducing the risk of acquiring HIV among sex workers.

CeSHHAR is an Aids-centred organisation that works together with the National Aids Council to empower sex workers to improve their sexual and reproductive health.

In Zimbabwe, sex workers face criminalisation, violence, discrimination and other forms of human rights violations, which increase their risk of acquiring HIV.

According to UNAids, HIV prevalence among sex workers is 10 times higher than among the general population, and sex workers are poorly served by HIV services.

It is against this backdrop that CeSHHAR has mobilised young sex workers in Gweru and surrounding communities for community empowerment services that are aimed at reducing violence, stigma and discrimination, including sensitisation training.

Part of the programme include enlisting peer educators to assist in the distribution of condoms, information on sexually-transmitted infections and HIV prevention, paralegal services and health service referrals.

A recent visit to a CeSHHAR project at Gwapa Farm in Gweru by a team of journalists, courtesy of NAC, showed that the organisation has gone a gear up through improving sex workers’ access to economic resources.

“We have among our projects the economic strengthening training, which is ongoing for a group of sex workers here in Gweru,” said CeSHHAR outreach worker, Sekai Dembaremba.

NAC will provide seed money for the projects.

“We have a group of 30 sex workers who are part of the training. The training is meant to impart in the sex workers the financial, marketing and business skills necessary to help their businesses grow.”

NAC Gweru district co-ordinator, Murari Hwingwiri, said the economic strengthening training is one of the many approaches that seek to help sex workers confront their economic vulnerability.

“The project is aimed at empowering these girls economically to address their vulnerabilities on economic factors. Studies from other countries show that this approach tries to address the economic vulnerability that puts sex workers at increased risk of acquiring HIV,” Hwingwiri said.

Hwingwiri said more than 3 500 sex workers in Gweru are accessing health services from the CeSHHAR clinic.

“Sex workers usually complain that they are discriminated against at health institutions, hence, through CeSHHAR, health and other issues affecting them can be dealt with through their own platform,” he said.

Services offered at the clinic include free STI treatment, HIV testing, family planning, mobilisation for PRep and ART, condoms (both male and female) and legal advice through partnerships with the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR).

It has been proven that with economic empowerment, a lot of women will leave sex work as they will be having a decent and consistent source of livelihood that does not endanger their lives.

Those that choose to remain in sex work will not give in to offers for more money for unprotected sex as they will be having their own income. Reductions in new infections amongst sex workers will ultimately lead to less new HIV and STI cases within the general population.

Sex workers have been identified as a key population in the global fight against Aids.

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