Nomaswazi Zulu* (23) is a sex worker in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal. She found out she has HIV in 2018 and has been taking antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) since. For the past seven years, Zulu would make the 113 km trip home to kwaMaphumulo to collect her meditation from the local clinic every 3 months. 

“When they found out that I was travelling up and down, the other girls told me about a mobile clinic that comes to South Beach on some nights. Most of them were receiving their treatment from this clinic,” she tells Health-e News. 

Instead of making the trip home in March, she waited for the mobile clinic. But the mobile clinic only gave her two week’s supply of ARVs and she hasn’t seen it since. 

“When my medication finished I knew I couldn’t skip a day. I’m not virally suppressed, if I don’t take my meds I’ll infect others,” Zulu says. 

Viral suppression is when the HI virus is not detectable in a person’s blood. This is usually an indication that the person is taking their ARVs as prescribed and that the treatment is working. When an individual has an undetectable viral load, they are unable to pass the virus on to their sexual partner. 

Zulu didn’t have the money to travel back home so she decided to seek treatment at Gateway Clinic at Addington Hospital.   

“I went to the clinic and asked for assistance to get medication. I was surprised when the nurse asked me what I do for a living. I told her I’m a sex worker and she said that the KZN Department of Health is short of medicine so giving me ARVs is a waste because there are people who really need the medication,” she says. 

According to Zulu, the nurse told her to go and work so that she could buy ARVs. 

Provincial health department’s Agiza Hlongwane says it’s difficult to follow up on Zulu’s case because she didn’t report the matter to the hospital. 

Zulu went to the nearby Lancer’s Road Clinic where she was able to get help. 

Marginalised even further

“Sex workers face significant barriers to accessing healthcare and often experience discrimination and stigma within the healthcare system. This includes instances of hostility, denial of services, and even sexual harassment within clinics, which contributes to their marginalisation,” says Megan Lessing from the Sex Worker Education and Advocacy Taskforce (SWEAT). 

While it is difficult to comment on this particular incident, Lessing says, the withdrawal of U.S. funding to many organisations that provided services to sex workers, has been difficult for many to navigate. 

“A lot of people didn’t have information of what these stop work orders would mean at the start. Those who were privileged to have access to the news and the internet were able to collect medication for maybe two or three months. But there were others who simply did not know that this has happened and they no longer have that resource that they relied on,” she says. 

Lessing says that SWEAT is working on a database for safe spaces for sex workers and to help them access the services they need. Sex workers needing referrals can call the 

24-hour helpline at 0800 60 60 60 or send whatsapp or please call me to 0713577632. – Health-e News

*Not her real name