Sex workers bear the brunt of COVID-19

Rutendo Mapfumo

Arrayed in a revealing miniskirt, Mildred Mudimba sits impatiently along the Victoria Falls – Hwange highway. She stands up and seductively saunters towards Cinderella Bar, one of the oldest bars in Hwange in search of clients.

She is one of hundreds of young women in Hwange who are earning a living out of sex work. Just like in any other line of work, there are ups and downs as the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic significantly altered Mildred’s life as a sex worker. 

The nationwide lockdown declared in 2020 made it difficult for her to access contraceptive pills. Now a mother to a year-old boy, Mildred regrets the day she was unable to take  contraceptives to avoid pregnancy in the event of having unprotected sex with a client

“It was during the peak of the pandemic when hospitals were becoming  no-go areas. I really wanted to get a contraceptive jab but failed. I tried to get it at the Hwange Colliery health facilities but I got scared because of the rumor that was circulating at the time to the effect that before entering the health facility, one would have to undergo a COVID-19 test,” she recalled with regret.

“My failure to have the Jadelle as a form of contraceptive resulted in me having this baby. I regret it but there is nothing I can do about it now. I had to stay for months without making money. It was worse during my lactation period. My clients are usually truckers and they sometimes prefer travelling with me. With my pregnancy and later my baby, work became impossible” she said.

COVID-19 has affected people differently, leaving   a trail of structural inequalities, worsened gender inequality, negatively impacted the marginalized and sex workers have not been spared. 

Although the rights-based frameworks recommended by United Nation Population Fund (UNFPA), World Health Organisation (WHO), United Nations Programme on HIV /AIDS (UNAIDS) and others put sex workers at the centre of any strategy to improve the health, human rights and gender equality, access to Sexual Reproductive Health Rights Services (SRHR) in Zimbabwe at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic was difficult for most sex workers in Hwange district.

Additionally, most sex workers were misinformed about COVID-19 thereby limiting their ability to take care of their bodies and protect themselves from COVID-19 and other sexually transmitted infections.

A research done by Multiple Therapy Trust, a Hwange based Non-Governmental Organisation working with sex workers, revealed that sex workers in the district were misguided by  myths and  misconceptions about  COVID-19 thereby  making their lives vulnerable to COVID-19 and other diseases.

Catherine Madondo the founder of the Multiple Therapy Trust said most sex workers put themselves in harm’s way  during the peak of the COVID -19 pandemic.

“Most of them were failing to access SRHR and we had to extend a hand to them by empowering them and also educating them with the correct information concerning COVID-19,” said Madondo.

According to Madondo, their survey indicated that some of the sex workers feared visiting hospitals to obtain contraceptives and some even failed to get the COVID -19 jabs.

“There are a number of sex workers we met in Victoria Falls who already had some Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) but feared going to the hospital. They didn’t want to be judged by society and some even resisted the COVID-19 jab alleging that the jabs may make them sick and as a result lose clients. They just believed the myths about COVID-19 without really getting the correct information” said Madondo.

Moreover, the consequent lockdowns, social distancing measures and quarantine procedures saw the closure of entertainment venues, the imposition of dusk-to-dawn curfews, stay-at-home orders, border closures, and the suspension of the hospitality and tourism industry.

This meant that in Hwange district, sex workers were amongst the most vulnerable members of the community due to loss of income. 

“I remember I once spent a night in  police custody and had to pay a fine for breaching the lockdown measures. Imagine, the money that I had only acquired from one man had to be channeled towards the fine yet it was meant for my children’s food,” said Chantel (not her real name).

She regretted that the nationwide COVID-19 lockdowns led to the closure of night clubs and other entertainment centres and resulted in a sudden and dramatic loss of income for most sex workers with profound consequences for their livelihoods, access to human rights, and health care. 

“Before the pandemic, I could afford to provide food for my children and also send them to school with the little I made at night but I’ve had to send my children to the rural areas to cut the cost of living here in Hwange ” said Chantel. 

Ruth Bikwa the Director of Hopeville Zimbabwe, another organisation working with sex workers as well as vulnerable children in Hwange said, “Due to inaccessibility of reproductive services, some sex workers became mothers. As a result their children are also going to suffer the consequences of the COVOD-19 pandemic,” said Bikwa.  

“Sex workers’ children had a real challenge during the pandemic. Their mothers were unable to reach their clients and this meant no source of income for their families,” she added.

Due to limited income, Bikwa said there is a high likelihood that sex workers’ children would  drop out of school, suffer from malnutrition and untimely deaths due to lack of money to take the children to hospitals in times of sickness

 “This impact has cascaded down to children. Some of these children could end up engaging in drug abuse and some will become young sex workers. This is a vicious cycle which starts by affecting the mother and will also affect the child if nothing is done to help them break the cycle,” she said.

Bikwa pointed out that under-resourced sex worker organizations throughout the region carry the burden of supporting sex workers so that they access information and resources on the COVID-19 pandemic. 

However she notes that, beyond this, there is need to assist the children.

“There is need to ensure sex workers’ children get educational support through the Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM). There is also a need to mobilize funds to equip sex workers with skills and start up capital for income generating projects for sustainability purposes,” says Bikwa.