STAR-STAR and HERA are winners of the ViiV Healthcare’s Positive Action Challenge

At this year’s 10th IAS Conference on HIV Science (IAS 2019), held in the capital of Mexico from 21 to 24 July, ViiV Healthcare, in collaboration with the International Association for Aids (IAS) on July 23, announced the award winners of the ViiV Healthcare’s Positive Action Challenge: Stigma-Free Services for Sex Workers. This Challenge seeks brand-new ideas or current existing projects that enable sex worker communities and healthcare providers to work together to provide comprehensive stigma and discrimination-free HIV prevention services.

STAR-STAR – The First Collective of Sex Workers in the Balkans and HERA – Association for Health Education and Research are among the three winners of the $ 75,000 Prize, besides Kenya’s HOYMAS Associations and the PACE Society from Canada. Sex worker associations from Serbia, Vietnam and Mexico are winners of the SEED Prize of $ 25,000.

STAR-STAR aims to use this money prize to strengthen programs aimed at the community of male sex workers and transgender sex workers in Northern Macedonia. STAR-STAR, in cooperation with HERA, plans to expand existing services related to HIV and sexual reproductive health for sex workers and advocates introducing new, currently inaccessible preventive methods such as the PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis, i.e. protection against exposure to HIV) in male and transgender sex workers.

DPNSEE congratulates our colleagues from North Macedonia and Serbia.