New Plan to better prevent and treat HIV in sex workers
Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced groundbreaking new interventions to address the high HIV infection rates among sex workers. These measures include the provision of pre-exposure prophylaxis to help prevent HIV in sex workers and early treatment for those that are already HIV-positive.
The Deputy President was speaking today (11 March 2016) in Johannesburg at the launch by the South African National AIDS Council (SANAC) of The National Sex Worker HIV Plan, which is a comprehensive response to the needs of sex workers. The Plan has been designed to encompass the multi-faceted lives of sex workers and tackles health needs but also psycho social support, alcohol and substance abuse treatment, reducing violence and economic empowerment.
“Finally a neglected population that has a very high risk of HIV is getting the attention it needs on a national scale. The programme will reach 70 000 sex workers over the next 3 years,” said SANAC CEO Dr Fareed Abdullah.
“SANAC will coordinate this programme and bring together the Departments of Health, Social Development and Justice and also NGOs and donors to pull together to achieve a common goals and targets described in the plan. The plan is comprehensive and includes reducing human rights violations,” Abdullah added.
SANAC also released the results of the first integrated biological and behavioural surveillance survey for female sex workers, conducted by the Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Research Institute, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and the Anova Health Institute, which found that sex workers are a highly marginalized group with high rates of HIV, TB, and STI incidence and prevalence. Prevalence is as high as 71.8% among female sex workers in Johannesburg – one of the highest rates in the world.
The National Sex Worker HIV Plan recommends PrEP for HIV negative sex workers as part of combination HIV prevention and calls for it to be accompanied by regular HIV testing. The detailed guidelines on the method of delivery of PrEP will be issued by the National Department of Health. South Africa will be one of the first countries in the world to make this form of HIV prevention available to sex workers.
Early treatment for all sex workers testing HIV positive and regardless of CD4 count, is also included in the health care package of the South African National Sex Worker HIV Plan. The survey showed that uptake of antiretroviral treatment among sex workers who had previously been diagnosed HIV positive was low.
“The Minister of Health’s decision to implement PrEP and Universal Test and Treat in sex workers once again shows how he and South Africa are really leading the world when it comes to responding to AIDS,” said Dr Abdullah.
Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the following package of interventions to be implemented by government departments and NGOs:
1. Peer education package
2. Health care package
3. Psychosocial service package
4. Human rights package
5. Social capital building package
6. Economic empowerment package
The Plan sets out targets to ensure that at least 95% of sex workers use condoms with their clients and partners and that gender-based violence falls by 50%.
Peer educators will be the backbone of the planned interventions. Sex workers will be recruited as peer educators and trained to provide services to sex workers including HIV knowledge and information, condoms and lubrication and psychosocial support.
However, SANAC’s Technical Working Group on Sex Work believes that current legislation surrounding sex work will need to be looked at.
“We applaud the launch of this hard fought for plan. However, in order for the targets of this plan to be achieved and for its impact to be made real in the lives of sex workers, we need to confront our current problematic legal framework,” said Nosipho Vidima, Co-Chair of SANAC’s Technical Working Group and the Human Rights and Lobbying Officer for the Sex Worker Education and Advocacy Taskforce.
“Sex work in South Africa needs to be decriminalised to ensure that sex workers can actually access their rights guaranteed by our Constitution,” Vidima noted.
For more information please contact: Kanya Ndaki SANAC Communications Manager 0832986100