NEW MOBILE CLINIC FOR SEX WORKERS

MBABANE – A clinic on wheels is what Santa has in his goody bag for sex workers.

The Ministry of Health plans to have a mobile unit for sex workers that will be for their aid as they conduct their business. This unit will provide help for the over 4 042 sex workers in the country. This was confirmed by Swaziland National AIDS Programme’s (SNAP) Muhle Dlamini, through a questionnaire response.

Dlamini said the mobile unit would provide biomedical interventions, STI screening, antiretroviral treatment (ART), viral load monitoring, and referrals. He said they would also address structural barriers through training nurses and sensitising police to improve the sex workers’ access to services. He stated that the programme was long-term but was partner dependent due to limited support from government. He added that most of the work had already been done.

The ministry also plans to engage the ladies of the night through a peer education programme promoting HIV and sexual reproductive health, as well as general health education in group sessions. Such programmes will entail one-on-one interactions, condom and lube distribution, mobilising peers for services such as HIV testing services (HTS) enrolment to care and treat, and also treatment of STIs and cervical cancer screening.

When asked what the ministry was hoping to achieve through working with sex workers, Dlamini said they were working hard to stop new HIV infections, especially to those who were not infected. He added that they also hoped to reduce chances of the women transmitting the virus to their clients.

He also added that they wanted to reduce mortality rate among those already infected by enrolling them to care and treatment, and help those living with the virus live longer by taking ARV treatment.

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: