CAMPAIGNS > MONITOR HIV & TB RESPONSE

Key populations

At our public clinics and hospitals the experience for people who use drugs, sex workers, & LGBTQIA+ communities can be hurtful and dehumanising. Both clinical and non-clinical staff like security guards continue to be unfriendly and discriminatory, be it at the clinic gate, in waiting areas, or even during medical consultations. Disgraceful privacy violations continue to occur that destroy people’s right to privacy and make clinics feel unsafe and uncomfortable to be in. Where this has become unbearable, some people have stopped going to the facility altogether. Shockingly, many people are even denied services altogether because they use drugs, are a sex worker, or are part of the LGBTQIA+ community. Where key populations do continue to suffer the daily indignities of using the public health system, specific services such as lubricants, PrEP, methadone, new needles, and hormone therapy, remain unavailable for the most part.

TAC considers it morally unacceptable and a violation of constitutional rights that people who use drugs, sex workers, and LGBTQIA+ communities are disrespected, humiliated, and dehumanised at public health facilities. We are committed to activism that will ensure the provision of safe, friendly, welcoming, and confidential services at all health facilities — as well as increasing the availability and accessibility of quality key population specific services, closer to where people actually live and work.