Despite Violence and Marginalisation, Sex Workers in Argentina Are Leading the Way on HIV/Aids Prevention

This article describes the work of the Argentinian Union of Female Sex Workers (AMMAR) in empowering sex workers as activists on HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention. AMMAR counters discrimination against sex workers by offering empowerment classes, re-training, gender awareness workshops, micro-enterprise, and healthcare. According to the article, these social, educational, and political programmes are leading the women to revolutionise approaches to HIV/AIDS prevention.


According to the union, "[s]ex workers are better placed than most for understanding importance of safe sex. They can access hard-to-reach populations with language that is in touch with real sexual practice. Zulema from AMMAR-Rio Negro described the experience of talking to a group of striking construction workers. She said, 'we took the opportunity to talk to them about HIV prevention and give them condoms and leaflets. At first, we were a bit nervous, but afterwards, the men asked us questions and told us they'd never spoken about HIV, and they didn't know there were STIs [sexually transmitted infections], we stayed there talking for three hours'....Sex workers have practical working knowledge that can develop needs models and articulate pragmatic ways in which condom-use can best be negotiated," including direct and uncomplicated approaches to creating open dialogue for talking about sensitive issues, even in a context of religious promotion of abstention as the only form of protection.


AMMAR provides specialised services, including sending volunteers through areas of sex work to talk to women about rights and health and to distribute condoms and information. In La Plata, Argentina, AMMAR has founded the Sandra Cabrera Health Centre as a joint initiative with the CTA (the umbrella trade union group to which AMMAR belongs) and the Buenos Aires Province Ministry for Health. Supported by money from The Global Fund Against Aids, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, the centre attends to a thousand sex workers a month and is also open to members of the public. It has created a space for sex workers in which all their healthcare requirements can be addressed directly alongside other personal needs.


Despite risk of arrest and detention of activist members, AMMAR is one of a growing number of sex worker organisations worldwide, including those in Costa Rica, Colombia, Peru, Cambodia, India, and South Africa, that are focused on HIV/AIDS prevention. In Brazil, according to this document, officials credit the work of sex worker organisations as a key contribution to a falling rate of AIDS mortality. Similarly, in Argentina, federal and municipal governments now rely on AMMAR's activists to design, implement, and deliver HIV/AIDS prevention policies and other sexual health services.