The organization La Sala began in 2012 with many dreams and projects that have begun to take shape, such as provide health services to our fellow sex workers women in Costa Rica.
After months of work and coordination, the members of La Sala ensured that the Control Unit of Sexually Transmitted Diseases to assist the institution once a month and attend, with a comprehensive approach, to sex workers women who want it. The consultation includes examinations of HIV/AIDS.
This proposal arose from an initial diagnosis that the members of La Sala made, according to which there is little access to health services by sex workers women. They explain that the lack of comprehensive health care for sex workers women is what generates misinformation, poor education and the consequent risk of infection and diseas
The causes of the lack of access are varied, but basically the fear, stigma and discrimination they face when they are attended in health centers is what keeps them away from the consultations and a proper health care.
What La Sala is looking for, in the long term, is that health services in Costa Rica have a policy to decrease the stigma and discrimination from health staff to sex workers women.
It is hoped that this work contributes to sex workers women attend more often to health checks and that the officials, sensitive to sex work, treat them with respect for their human and labor rights.
Towards a National Network of Sex Workers
This year, La Sala also aims to detect new leaders in other provinces of Costa Rica. The project has UNFPA support and seeks that sex workers organize themselves in their workplaces and be protagonists in campaigns to prevent HIV/AIDS, among other issues.
This project aims to reach Puntarenas downtown, Golfito and the province of Limón and seeks to find new sex workers women in the region to provide them workshops on the prevention of STDs and HIV and train them in leadership.
In the words of Nubia Ordoñez, maximum referent of the organization that integrates RedTraSex, La Sala “serves as an educational, organizational and social resource for sex workers women. We’ve come a long way in 18 years to empower our community through services and training in STI and HIV prevention, comprehensive health information, strengthening of human rights in the community. We have the advantage of understanding the lives of sex workers women, which helps us focus our projects with a focus on overall health and not just sexual”.
