Stories

Addressing Gender-Based Violence Included in Minimum Package of HIV Services for Female Sex Workers in Luanda

December 02, 2019
Role playing activity at a violence prevention and response workshop. Photo credit: LINKAGES/MSH

Gender-based violence (GBV) prevention services have been integrated with HIV prevention and testing services under the LINKAGES Project in Angola since 2017. Outreach workers from the Associação de Solidariedade & Ajuda Mútua (ASCAM), as part of their HIV-prevention messaging, now provide GBV awareness and support to those who experienced such attacks.Today, ASCAM’s teams no longer conduct HIV work without discussing violence prevention.

Police Become Allies in Protecting Key Populations

December 02, 2019
Participants gather at a violence prevention and response action planning workshop with representatives of the government, health facilities, and local partner organization, ASCAM, in Luanda, Angola. Photo credit: LINKAGES/MSH

In 2017, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as a principal recipient of Global Fund (GF) funding for HIV at the request of the Government of Angola, approached MSH, the implementer of LINKAGES, with an offer to complement the minimum service package for female sex workers (FSW) in Luanda Province.

Peer Educators Sensitize Police to Improve HIV and Gender-Based Violence Services for Sex Workers

December 02, 2019
Police leaders at a LINKAGES training. Photo credit: LINKAGES/MSH

At the beginning of LINKAGES, peer educator Maria* was training female sex workers (FSW) on HIV prevention in a busy nightclub in downtown Luanda when police detained her. Maria spent several hours at the police station before she was able to explain that she was an outreach worker with the Associação Beneficente Cristã (ABC) under the LINKAGES Project.

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