As the coronavirus spreads in Africa, it threatens those who earn their living on the streets, including sex workers with HIV
As the coronavirus spreads in Africa, it threatens in multiple ways those who earn their living on the streets — people such as Mignonne, a 25-year-old sex worker with HIV.
Studies have shown that food insecurity is a barrier to taking the drugs daily and can decrease their efficacy, affecting not only sex workers but anyone where food — or the money to buy it — is scarce. “Sex workers are among the most marginalized groups,” they wrote, adding that “it is crucial that disruption to health services does not further reduce access to HIV treatment.”Rwanda, which offers free antiretroviral therapy to all, has been widely praised for its progress in controlling HIV. The country has kept HIV prevalence at 3% for more than a decade, and the number of new infections has dropped.More than 45% of the estimated 12,000 sex workers in the East African country live with HIV.
“Now many are telling me they cannot take the drug because they don’t have food. It’s understandable, and I don’t know what to do,” she said. She, like other sex workers, gave only her first name for her safety. Her organization and the Global Network of Sex Work Projects have called for sex workers to be included in countries’ COVID-19 social protection programs.
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