ПРОЦЕНКА НА ПОТРЕБИТЕ НА МЛАДИТЕ СЕКСУАЛНИ РАБОТНИЦИ ВО ОДНОС НА ЗДРА Проценка на потребите на младите сексуални работни | Page 29

Another service which is considered readily available is HIV testing and pre and post
counseling HIV testing. This service is easily available by VCCT (Voluntary Confidential
Counseling and Testing), a program sponsored by the NGO HERA. The VCCT service is a
process that enables the individual to receive confidential counseling which is supposed
to help them make an informed choice related to their HIV status. VCCT also enables the
individuals to take appropriate actions once their HIV status is known to them. The HIV
testing is conducted in mobile vehicles provided by HERA. STAR-STAR as an association
of sex workers plays the role of a link that connects sex workers to the service provider so
that they can utilize the VCCT service. Additionally, highly trained sex workers are involved
in the entire process of counseling and HIV testing as counselors and gate keepers.
The sex workers who participated in the focus group discussion have also mentioned
the services by a social worker as readily available as well. Sex workers do need social
support, mainly in cases of personal documents issue and renewal and social welfare
entitlement rights.
Many of us girls gather and we do HIV testing in the van. Free of charge. – female sex
workers.
What the focus group participants consider as available services are those that they can
get via the civil organizations, at sex workers’ centers or at their homes or the locations
where they work. These services are provided for sex workers irrespective of whether they
have healthcare insurance or not, and they can utilize them without having to reveal their
status. On the other hand, services provided by state institutions are not easily available,
mainly due to their fear of discrimination and stigma which are quite common given
that professional workers in state institutions have not been properly sensitized yet.
The sex workers who participated in the focus group discussion have stated that the
following services are less available: vaccination, diagnosis and treatment of Viral
Hepatitis, as well as the services by a urologist and endocrinologist.
Endocrinologists, urologists and gynecologists should be more available; I know from
personal experience that in public healthcare institutions there are only one urologist,
endocrinologist and gynecologist. We don’t have a spectrum of healthcare workers, so
you can choose who you would like to go to. – transgender sex worker.
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