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The criminalisation of prostitution and the discrimination sex workers face make them especially vulnerable to HIV. Street sex work is also often linked with poverty, racism, alcohol and drug use; which heighten vulnerability to HIV. Relying on pimps for protection, threats of violence, and drug use pose health and safety risks with sex workers less likely to take control during the transaction, for example, through use of condoms. Sex workers also have difficulty in accessing sexual health care because sexual health services are over-stretched and inadequate. The criminal status of prostitution has led to project workers being accused by the police of "aiding or abetting" sex work. Sex work initiatives are often excluded from resources aimed at HIV prevention and many sex work projects now rely on funding from crime reduction budgets rather than sexual health budgets. The UK AIDS and Human Rights Project has highlighted the pressing issue of HIV-related rights in the context of sex work in its recent UNGASS Shadow Report. MORE INFO
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