The Peoples Federation for National Peace and Development (Pefenap) has embarked on an HIV sensitisation campaign targeting commercial sex workers in Lunzu, Blantyre.
Speaking during a stakeholders meeting in Lunzu, Blantyre, on Tuesday, Pefenap Executive Director, Edward Chaka, said the township had been targeted because data collected from health centres indicate that HIV continues to pose a risk to residents’ health.
“Sex workers in Malawi face high levels of discrimination and stigma when seeking HIV services, further increasing their vulnerability to the virus, especially from police when they seek victim support services.
“Again, information from Kadidi Health Centre in Lunzu indicates that less than two percent of patients who were treated for sexually transmitted infections revealed being involved in sex work, while less than six percent of people who accessed HIV testing in the preceding 12 months confirmed to be sex workers. This is despite that this is the only free public health facility in the area,” Chaka said.
He added that the situation is similar in other health facilities within Blantyre City where most female sex workers shy away from them because of discrimination they usually face from community members and even health workers in some instances.
“There is a great need, therefore, to expand and scale up HIV testing and treatment among sex workers as a key population if Malawi is to achieve the 90:90:90 World Health Organisation (WHO) target and one way of doing this is to take testing and treatment to places conducive to sex workers like hot spots,” Chaka said.
WHO has identified commercial sex workers as one of the key populations in the fight against HIV and Aids.
The Malawian HIV epidemic varies greatly across the country, with HIV prevalence in Southern Region twice as high as Northern and Central regions, at 14.5 percent.
Additionally, HIV is found to be more prevalent in urban areas (17.4 percent) than rural areas of Malawi (9 percent), according to the Journal of the International Aids Society.
The 2013 Malawi Progress Report indicates that HIV prevalence among sex workers is as high as 71 percent (Malawi Ministry of Health [2014] ‘Malawi Progress Report for 2013).
Chaka added that the project aims to increase the uptake of HIV testing and treatment among key populations such as sex workers is key to achieving 90:90:90 WHO targets.
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