Cape Town - A keenly anticipated clinic for sex workers opened over the weekend to offer much-needed health services to them.
The Cym Van Dyke clinic in Observatory hopes to make a contribution to getting 20 million people on to HIV treatment by 2020.
The clinic is the result of a partnership between the Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Taskforce (Sweat) and the Aids Healthcare Foundation (AHF) South Africa. It will be open to the general public. The clinic will be offering services such as drug counselling, HIV, TB, STI and pregnancy testing, cervical cancer screening, access to condoms and lubricants.
When the clinic was first mooted last month, Hilary Thulare, Country programme director for AHF South Africa, said although there had been a more supportive stance from government, the struggle continues to ensure treatment is available to all South Africans.
The opening of this clinic is considered a milestone as sex work is still criminalised in South Africa and many workers find themselves unable to receive adequate support. The clinic aims to protect and empower sex workers through the services offered, giving them a safe, non-judgemental space for them to turn to.
Larissa Klazinga, who is the Regional Advocacy and Policy Manager for AHS, said her organisation plans to also use mobile clinics to take its services to rural communities. The clinic was named in memory of Cym Van Dyke, a transgender sex worker activist. He was involved with Sweat from the beginning as an advocate for their mission, which fights for the rights of sex workers.