The Congolese government declared on May 3, 2021, the end of the EBOLA virus epidemic in the East of the D R. Congo, which pushed thousands of sex workers to go to the mining areas that had not been frequented, even before the declaration of the pandemic in COVID-19 in December 2019. Now, on 8 October 2021, the Congolese government has just declared the outbreak of the EBOLA virus once again.
ASWA members in DRC- UMANDE and HODSAS have expressed with concern that the rapid actions that the Congolese government just launched to address the EBOLA epidemic with its partners are not inclusive of the thousands of women, men, and transgender sex workers who have been excluded and not taken into account in the response priorities as usual.
African Sex Workers Alliance (ASWA) is committed to amplifying the voice of sex workers working in the East of the D R. Congo.
We therefore join ASWA members in DRC- UMANDE and Homme Pour Les Droits Et La Sante (HODSAS) to call on the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to include sex workers in all their diversity in the EBOLA pandemic response.
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