Services for sexual and reproductive health (SRH) among key populations in North Macedonia, including sex workers as population under higher risk of HIV infection, have been established around 15 years ago with The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria support. When this support ceased in 2018, North Macedonia became one of the few countries in its region to sustain these services through financing by the Ministry of health. Previous research have documented that sex workers have difficulties in accessing healthcare services of quality. These barriers include healthcare insurance, stigma and discrimination in the healthcare system and from healthcare workers, or financial difficulties in accessing healthcare services and/or healthcare treatment. Civil society organisations (CSOs), on the other hand, have built capacities and are recognised by the sex workers community as service providers of timely, free of charge and good quality healthcare services for sexual and reproductive health and the CSOs have access to vulnerable populations which are out of reach for the healthcare system.
This research was developed by STAR-The First Sex Workers Collective in the Balkans in attempt to improve accessibility and comprehensiveness of the available SRH services in North Macedonia and to define alternations needed to improve the SRH healthcare for sex workers in North Macedonia through comprehensive care with focus on the people and suited better to individual needs. The report from the research documents the compatibility of the existing sexual and reproductive healthcare services with the sex workers’ needs and defines key priorities and solutions/recommendations for upgrading the SRH services, available for for sex workers through civil society organisations.
The publication of this research is part of our project “National SWIT Implementation” supported by SWAN – Sex Workers’ Rights Advocacy Network.
The research report is available only in Macedonian language and can be accessed/downloaded here – Извештај од истражување: Проценка на компатибилноста на постоечките услуги за сексуално и репродуктивно здравје со потребите на сексуалните работници во Северна Македонија
This research was supported by SWAN.