From the bottom of our hearts, we are deeply grateful to be a recipient of the Red Ribbon Award this year alongside giants A/Prof Martin Chio, A/Prof Sophia Archuleta, Dr Wong Chen Seong, Prof David Lye, Cheryl Yeo and Victoria Wondersnatch.
We would like to dedicate this award to all the staff, peer educators, interns, and volunteers from the past 16 years who have worked tirelessly and contributed to various forms of support for sex workers.
We would like to thank our collaborators Action for AIDS and DSC Clinic for enabling us to provide access to sexual health testing to sex workers, and our funders and donors who built not just our financial capacity to do the work but also to support the professionalisation of our organisation.
We are encouraged by the award and we will continue to work to reduce HIV transmission, provide equitable treatment and reduce stigma for people living with HIV, particularly the sexy workers in Singapore!
The sex worker movement has and always will play a key role in supporting the global movement to end the onward transmission of HIV. Here’s why…
Sex workers are significantly impacted by HIV
In 2023, 39.9 million people around the globe were living with HIV (UNAIDS fact sheet, 2024). However, owing to marginalisation, discrimination and criminalisation, sex workers were found to be nine times more likely to acquire HIV than the global population, and have far less access to HIV services (UNAIDS, 2024).
Sex workers include people of all genders, including transgender people and gender diverse people, and people who have different sexual orientations, migrant status, or race. Based on these, sex workers often face intersecting forms of stigma and structural barriers that not only increases their risks of acquiring HIV, but also significantly impacts their ability to access services and protect their health (UNAIDS, 2024).
Where the sex worker movement comes in
Like anybody else, sex workers have a right to safe working conditions, access to social protection, and autonomy over their bodies and sexualities, without any discrimination.
Sex worker movements are crucial to reduce inequalities and protect and promote human rights and public health that sex workers are often deprived of. By ensuring access to HIV services that are free from stigma and discrimination, fostering supportive environments which enable sex workers to protect their health and well-being, and facilitating peer-led responses, these movements bridge the gaps between governments and health facilities to this marginalised community (UNAIDS, 2024).
But beyond essential support services like legal assistance, health check-ups and emotional support, the sex worker movement aims to empower sex workers with the knowledge that they too deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.
How does this fit into the grand scheme of things?
UNAIDS’ 10-10-10 targets envision that by 2025, less than 10% of countries should have punitive legal and policy environments that deny or limit access to services, less than 10% of people living with HIV and key populations will experience stigma and discrimination, and less than 10% of women, girls, people living with HIV, and key populations will experience gender inequality and violence (The Lancet HIV, 2021).
With an estimate of 52 million sex workers worldwide (IUSW, 2024), and addressing the prevalence of HIV within the sex worker community would contribute significantly to helping this vision come to life. Needless to say, sex worker movements around the globe have made great strides thus far, and Project X has been no exception.
Since 2014, we have administered over 3000 HIV and STI tests through our Mobile Testing Service (MTS) in collaboration with AFA, and we see an average of 35 sex workers at each of our MTS sessions which are held twice a month.
Once again, we are humbled that our contribution to HIV prevention, care and advocacy has been recognised, but our work doesn’t end here.
As we continue to advocate for and walk alongside sex workers, we hope to see not just the end of the AIDS epidemic, but also the end of mindsets, discrimination and stigma that stands in the way of sex workers getting the rights that they deserve.
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