Health Strategies
Black Sex Workers Organizing Positively
The overarching goal of this project is is to ensure that Black Sex Workers living with HIV and directly impacted by HIV are part of the solution to HIV/AIDS in the US through their self organizing to facilitate their meaningful involvement. Objectives are to:
1) develop an organizing committee led by Black Sex Workers living with an impacted by HIV,
2) create and disseminate accurate information about the impact of HIV/AIDS on communities of Black Sex Workers,
3) develop amd deepen the impact of Black sex wrokers leadership on HIV/AIDS through capacity building and engagement in key fora, and
4) ensure the resilience of our communities to address the impact of HIV and roots causes such as criminalization and stigma. The expected outcomes will be greater leadership by people living with HIV on these topics, more responsive policies and better program models to address living with HIV in our communities.
How Are We Suited to Do This Work?
The BSWC has been working on HIV/AIDS related issues for Sex Workers since our foundation in 2018 and most of our collective have a lifetime of community building and addressing HIV/AIDS as Black Sex Workers as well. We are a proudly Sex Workers led organization. We are 100% Black led.
We have been attending global convenings on HIV/AIDS such as the International AIDS Conferences since 2018. Locally each of our branches provides direct HIV related support to Black Sex Workers and we all work in with local HIV/AIDS service providers and local policy makers to raise up our issues. We also are an active part of actions organized by People of African Descent at the United Nations. Our Executive Director was a 2021 United Nations Fellow.
Since 2019 we have been part of a strong coalition of Sex Workers led organizations, primarily made up of BPPP, Desiree Alliance, New Jersey Red Umbrella Alliance, the Outlaw Project and ourselves, Black Sex Worker Collective, to consistently advocate for the meaningful inclusion of Sex Workers in the National HIV/AIDS Strategy. Our coalition was successful in this goal as evidenced by some changes in the most recent strategy. With funding from this grant stream we are well situated to support the leadership of Sex Workers living with HIV in this coalition and to build on this body of work.
Thank you AIDS United for funding this project! For more information visit aidsunited.org
Black Maternal Health (more information coming soon)
Tenofovir alafenamide (TAF): compared to its predecessor ,tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF),TAF has been developed to have reduced effects on bone density. Studies have shown that TAF-based regimens may result in less bone loss and lower renal toxicity.
According to experts, using atripla for HIV treatment is not advised. This is because it contains certain active ingredients such as efavirenz ,emtricitabine, and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF).These ingredients have been identified as a major cause of enormous bone loss for HIV positive persons.
Certain medications such as stribel and atripla are no longer useful for HIV treatment because of associated side effects on bone density Example tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) which is a combination of drugs such as stribel and has been associated with bone mineral loss.