Fpam courts bar owners on sex workers, beats outreach target

Family Planning Association of Malawi (Fpam) in Ntcheu says it has reached out to over 500 sex workers with HIV and Aids and sexual and reproductive health (SRH)messages this year, beating their target of 400.

Ntcheu Fpam office manager Saukira Sitima said this on Friday during a meeting with bar owners that sought to share experiences, challenges and successes of the year 2018 in the Global Fund Female Sex Worker project.

The project provides services such as HIV testing and treatment, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) screening, diagnosis and treatment, TB screening and family planning methods to female sex workers.

Ntcheu District Health Office STIs coordinator Limbikani Semu commended Fpam for the project, saying it has reduced the number of sex workers engaging in risky behaviour.

One of the sex workers, Anne Bwanali, said before the project, she and her colleagues did not have negotiating skills when a client demanded unprotected sex.

“Now we have been empowered with the skills and SRH information. We are also now able to report abuse and access medical health services,” she said.

Owner of Club Macheza in the district, Tiyamike Mwantisi, said as a result of the project, sex workers now share information on the dangers of HIV.

The project, financed by Global Fund, seeks to reduce new HIV infections and the further spread of the virus among female sex workers. n