A Sheffield organisation are providing an ‘essential’ service for street workers by supplying condoms, a needle exchange and hot food to keep them as safe as possible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A women-only van that drives around \u2018The Beat\u2019 – the area of the city to where street sex workers work, distributing the health essentials.
Camille Ball, 23, a volunteer at the organisation, said: \u201cThe van goes around five days a week in the evening. Most of the women know us, and know the van, and they\u2019ll either come over, or put their arm out and we\u2019ll come over.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The not-for-profit organisation, also have an office in Sheffield, and asked not to be named, but describe the office as a ‘safe space’ where street workers can go for advice on housing, claiming benefits, have something to eat or just escape from the stressors of their day-to-day lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey go through such difficult things, and each day for them is so tumultuous, and yet they\u2019re always laughing and smiling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe do everything for them – we feed them, give them a place to sleep, a place to be comfortable,” said Camille. “There\u2019s no men allowed in the office, or the van, so it\u2019s a space where they\u2019re safe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Camile recalled an incident where a sex worker came into the office, threatening suicide, and within 30 minutes, had \u201cher head screwed on, and was ready to go. They\u2019re just so resilient\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The service is absolutely essential according to Camille, as women involved in street sex work are often unlikely to access healthcare or mainstream care services, with legal barriers and stigma effectively driving sex workers underground. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
BMC research <\/a>revealed \u201cdespite high levels of chronic physical and mental ill-health there is little evidence of effective healthcare provision” for sex workers. The barriers include under-resourced services and insufficient trauma-informed care. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The organisation Camille volunteers for, which sees around 40 women on a regular basis, has their own GP ensuring the women have access to sufficient healthcare, which she believes is \u201cincredibly important\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However not all sex workers have this access to these services, according to Camille. She said: “They need need to be vaccinated against certain things, but there is a bigger issue of getting sex workers to the GP in the first place, before they can even get vaccinated. They are definitely underprovided for, and there\u2019s no education in treating them at all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The European Sex Workers Rights Alliance <\/a>believes stigma of the profession is one of the barriers that drives street sex workers away from healthcare, which also prevents the reliable data being collated on the health concerns of those selling sexual services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Research <\/a>has shown that on the whole, sexual health, drug and alcohol services and homeless health services in the UK better meet the needs of sex workers, whereas mainstream general practice and mental health services were found to be largely inaccessible for them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For the Sheffield charity and their volunteers, care around drug use is crucial. A 2017 study<\/a> stated: \u201cIn the UK, most female street-based sex workers use drugs such as heroin and\/or crack cocaine.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n