Should commercial sex workers have unrestricted healthcare access across the world?
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Taylor-Robinson, Simon
De Souza Lopes, Paulo
Zdravkov, Jey
Harrison, Rachel
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
We argue commercial sex workers have rights to healthcare and psychosocial support. While decriminalization is not legally enacted in most countries, we would suggest these workers rights include freedom from harassment and opportunities to lead healthy lives. The need for healthcare access for all is heightened in the COVID-19 pandemic where some people flout rules on lockdown by engaging with commercial sex workers and may unwittingly spread SARS-CoV-2 in so doing. Unrestricted healthcare access without stigma for commercial sex workers protects them, and has a beneficial societal effect on those who engage with them and on their contacts.
Date Issued
2021-10-30
Date Acceptance
2021-10-15
Citation
International Journal for Equity in Health, 2021, 20 (237), pp.1-5
ISSN
1475-9276
Publisher
BioMed Central
Start Page
1
End Page
5
Journal / Book Title
International Journal for Equity in Health
Volume
20
Issue
237
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2021. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which
permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the
original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or
other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line
to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory
regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this
licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativeco
mmons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.
permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the
original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or
other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line
to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory
regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this
licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativeco
mmons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.
License URL
Sponsor
Wellcome Trust
Wellcome Trust
Wellcome Trust
Identifier
https://equityhealthj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12939-021-01575-3
Grant Number
097816/Z/11/ZR
097816/Z/11/A
097816/Z/11/B
Subjects
Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Sex workers
Decriminalization
Healthcare
Human rights
COVID-19
COVID-19
Decriminalization
Healthcare
Human rights
Sex workers
COVID-19
Communicable Disease Control
Health Personnel
Health Services Accessibility
Humans
Pandemics
SARS-CoV-2
Sex Workers
Humans
Communicable Disease Control
Health Personnel
Health Services Accessibility
Pandemics
Sex Workers
COVID-19
SARS-CoV-2
Public Health
1117 Public Health and Health Services
1608 Sociology
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2021-11-12