A glossary was produced by the regional networks of communities in Eastern Europe and Central Asia with the invitation of UNAIDS to develop a list of key Russian-language terms related to community leadership in response to the HIV epidemic. SWAN programme officer Kristina Mahnicheva and activist Shahnaz Islamova from SWAN member organisation Tais Plus were […]
Statement of Eastern Europe and Central Asia regional community networks to the United National General Assembly High Level Meeting on HIV and AIDS on key priorities in HIV and AIDS response The Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS determines the directions of global and national policies, and the ways people and communities are able to […]
On the occasion of World AIDS Day 2019, Sex Workers Rights Advocacy Network (SWAN) and International Committee on the Rights of Sex Workers in Europe (ICRSE) commemorate those who have died from AIDS related illnesses and take this opportunity to join the Global Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP), UNAIDS, READ MORE
Between 23rd and 27th July 2018, more than 120 sex workers from more than 25 countries attended the 22nd International AIDS Conference (AIDS2018) in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The bi-annual International AIDS Conferences are the largest global gathering of HIV academics, implementers, policy makers, people living with HIV and those most affected by HIV, including sex workers.
This report presents the key activities led by or including sex workers at AIDS2018 and explore some of the key thematic issues of the conference.
SWAN members Silver Rose (Russia) and Legalife (Ukraine) reported that their governments ignore all international treaties and guidelines. In addition, migrants’ rights in Russia are violated and censorship makes advocacy difficult.
According to statistics, about 25 thousand people were diagnosed with human immunodeficiency virus in Kazakhstan. But on the eve of the World AIDS Day, let’s not talk about the numbers, because the exact number of people living with HIV cannot be stated by any medical facility. There is an endeavor to try to understand how they live with the diagnosis, which for most of us sounds like a sentence. And what kind of help they can expect.
Sex workers are among the groups of people that are most affected by HIV/AIDS due to:
The Bulgarian parliament received a group of AIDS activists on the 13th of February 2015. The group was there to inform MPs about the imminent risk of Bulgaria completely losing its HIV prevention services after the end of this year. The country, which has since 2004 been a recipient of funding from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, is no longer eligible for such assistance, and 2015 is therefore the last year in which the cost of HIV prevention services in the country will be fully covered by the Global Fund.
In 2013 there were 35,5 million HIV positive people, and 1.5 million people died from AIDS-related causes, according to UNAIDS. The people living with HIV and AIDS often face lack of access to equal treatment, support and respect. A lot of them face stigma and criminalization, especially such vulnerable groups as sex workers. The latter face higher risk of HIV due to criminalization of their work, violence and discrimination by medical institutions and the police.