Street based sex workers needs assessment

In order to gain a better understanding of the issues and needs of street based sex workers and to develop an action plan, it was decided to conduct a needs assessment of street based sex workers. [...] Sex workers are often unable to get the required health care because they may be discriminated by some health care providers and in some instances the sex workers may themselves feel ashamed to reveal their involvement in sex work because of the internalization of the stigma and oppression. [...] One of the other major suggestions included the need to keep the health and social services open for the afterhours when they could use the services. [...] Lazarus et al., (2012) in their research on street based sex workers in Vancouver suggest the need for policy and societal shift to legitimize sex work as a means to decrease stigmatization of sex work and to improve access to the health care system. [...] Finally, the organization of sex workers as a collective as demonstrated locally and in several countries could be an effective way to improve the socio-economic status of street based sex workers because ultimately the future of the street sex workers lies collectively with themselves.