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Not just participants: recognizing the critical need for sex workers’ voices in microbicide research & development. Anna Forbes, Microbicides 2008. Microbicide Research Agenda: Sex Workers Concerns. Will researchers meet with sex worker advocates?
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Not just participants:recognizing the critical need for sex workers’ voices in microbicide research & development Anna Forbes, Microbicides 2008
Microbicide Research Agenda: Sex Workers Concerns Will researchers meet with sex worker advocates? Is higher risk arising from therapeutic misconception addressed? Does consent form cover “industrial level” use?
Microbicide Introduction: what does it mean for Sex Workers? Condom migration = Disproportionate negative impact on sex workers Could work against their insistance on condoms
“It is as if you are a factory worker who needs steel-toed boots to do your job safely … but the factory owner will only gives you soft slippers!” USA voice
STIGMA !! Painting from Cambodia
Girls’ and Women's Protection Strategies Social Power Interventions that address gender power imbalances between men and women Woman- controlled HIV prevention Protection Economic Opportunities Technology Brady, Martha. Population Council, Conceptual Framework. 2005.
re: NGOs “When they call meetings with us, they do not talk about our problems. All they talk is AIDS.” Bangladeshi voice
“It is the power structure and not the lack of the right cream that makes sex workers vulnerable.” Australian voice
Critical strategies needed to address Sex Workers unique risks and needs • Sex Workers and their advocates have the • expertise • access and • credibility needed. But as paid, respected partners in research --- not just participants.
See: “Questions for Researchers” in “Making Sex Work Safe in Asia and the Pacific” (pages 23-24) -- a publication available on-line at the AsianPacific Network of Sex Workers web site http://apnsw.org/images.html?n=1710
Thanks to my teachers… • Meena Seshu, SANGRAM/VAMP (India) • Nandinee Bandyapadhyay, PATH/India • Andrew Hunter, APNSW (Thailand) • Khartini Slamah, INSWP (Malaysia) • Hazera Begum, Durjoy Nari Shangha (Bangladesh) • Cheryl Overs, NSWP (Thailand) • Melissa Hope Ditmore (US) • any many, many others!