1. Marija Tosheva Advocacy Officer Sex Workers Rights Advocacy Network in CEECA (SWAN)

2.  SWAN is a network which unites sex workers and advocates from Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia with main goal - to strengthen advocacy for a safer legal environment that ensures human rights of all sex workers in the region;  23 members/organizations from 18 countries, 9 of members are community led groups;  Main focus in the past – community mobilization and addressing the violence against sex workers in the region;

3. - Non-sustainable VCT services (dependence from GFATM and international donors); - In some countries – no sex work specific testing services (low coverage of testing, and no sex work specific data available); - Confidentiality of results and quality of services still an issue; - Lack of meaningful peer involvement and capacity building of peer counselors; - Police raids and forced testing (criminalization of transmition & criminalization of sex work);

4. - Mobility and migration; - Lack of documents & health insurance; - Late start of ARV due to limited testing; - Stigma and discrimination: - among health professionals (based on work status); - among health professionals (based on work status); - within the sex workers community (based on HIV status); - within the sex workers community (based on HIV status);

5. - Hiding the status to avoid stigma and isolation leads to: - Lack of reliable data on sex work and HIV treatment and care (prevalence, barriers, needs); - Lack of reliable data on sex work and HIV treatment and care (prevalence, barriers, needs); - Poor quality of response/services due to lack of understanding of the context and status (week referral system with other SRH services; mental health issues related to work and HIV status, isolation from own community, economic burden & alternative opportunities not addressed); - Poor quality of response/services due to lack of understanding of the context and status (week referral system with other SRH services; mental health issues related to work and HIV status, isolation from own community, economic burden & alternative opportunities not addressed); - Sex work and drug use/ Male and trans sex workers; - Lack of HIV+ sex workers involved in peer support, or designing and implementing treatment and care programs for sex workers;

6.  Assessment of barriers to access testing and treatment for sex workers on all levels (community, state, legislation, operational);  Sensitization of health workers/service providers on the issues and specifics of sex workers (strengthening the referrals systems, addressing mental health issues etc);  Strengthening peer involvement in counseling, testing and support trough capacity building, linkages and introducing treatment literacy;

7.  Creating supportive system for migrant/mobile populations;  Addressing inter community stigma and wide spread general stigma and discrimination;  Addressing structural barriers (criminal/penal laws, police actions, forced testing);

8. Thank you for your attention ! marijat@swannet.org www.swannet.org