South Africa Launching AIDS Aid For s£x Workers

s£x workers in South Africa — those most likely to be infected with s£xually transmitted diseases — are 12 times less likely to receive anti-retroviral treatment for HIV and AIDS than the rest of the population, according to a report in AllAfrica.

Addressing the health of s£x workers is crucial to combating the spread of HIV in South Africa as they are most at risk of acquiring HIV and other STDs, said Mark Dybul, executive director of the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Dybul spoke recently at an AIDS conference in Cape Town.









South Africa is believed to have more people with HIV/AIDS than any other country in the world. In 2010, an estimated 280,000 South Africans died of HIV/AIDS.

The country plans in 2014 to launch a program to help protect s£x workers against HIV and help them access treatment.

It is being touted as a “flagship model” that should be followed by the rest of the world, Dybul said.

South Africa’s National Strategic Plan for HIV Prevention, Care and Treatment for s£x Workers shows “remarkable leadership and (is) a flagship of how we must respond not only on this continent but around the world,” Dybul said, according to a Business Day report.

The plan was developed by the South African National Aids Council, the s£x Workers’ Education and Advocacy Taskforce, Sisonke s£x Workers Movement and the departments of social development and health, among others.

It will form a part of the country’s National Strategic Plan for HIV and AIDS, TB and STIs through 2016.

The plan involves scaling up an existing HIV-prevention package, improving services, reducing discrimination against s£x workers and mobilizing resources, Business Day reported.

The goal is to increase access to HIV treatment for an estimated 153,000 s£x workers in South Africa, reduce violence and human rights abuses against them and promote their well being.

The South African Law Reform Commission is investigating decriminalizing prostitution — a major issue for s£x workers, BusinessDayLive reports. Criminalization means s£x workers are vulnerable to abuse by the police, and are denied access to
justice and health services, the report said. Prostitution in South Africa, as in many other countries, is a criminal offence.

The African National Congress Women’s League and the Commission for Gender Equality both support the legalization of s£x work, according to BusinessDayLive.

Fareed Abdullah, CEO of the South African National Aids Council, said in the plan’s foreword that addressing the health of s£x workers is “crucial to our plans to combat the spread of HIV in South Africa as they are most at risk of acquiring HIV and other s£xually transmitted infections.”

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS donated about $300 million in October to South Africa for its HIV/AIDS programs, some of which will supplement prevention and referral services for two-and-a-half years, according to AllAfrica.