Paralegal, Peer Educator and Sex Worker, Bell is Breaking Down Barriers in DRC
“Sex work is just our job. We’re human like everyone else, so we must have rights like everyone else.”
Bell is a paralegal, peer educator and sex worker in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Too often, sex workers face stigma, discrimination and criminalization that prevents them from accessing HIV prevention, testing and care. Sex workers are four times more likely to have HIV compared to the general population.
Bell works tirelessly to educate sex workers on their rights and connect them to health care, psychosocial support and legal services at the Centre Convivial in Kinshasa: a drop in-center run by Global Fund partners BWANYA and PASCO.
Bell is a paralegal, peer educator and sex worker in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Bell was inspired to do this work after witnessing sexual violence against and the wrongful incarceration of sex workers.
“If something wrong is happening, sex workers are the first target to get bullied and discriminated against.”
Bell wants her community to know their rights and know where to turn when they need support.
“We tell them there is no marginalization at the center,” she says. “If they come here, they will find someone to listen to them, medicines – they are welcome, they have someone to take care of them.”
Access to justice and lifesaving health care are human rights.
Since 2017, the Global Fund’s Breaking Down Barriers initiative has invested over US$200 million in a groundbreaking effort across 24 countries to confront obstacles posed by laws, policies and practices limiting people's access to health services.
Investments prioritize reducing stigma and discrimination in health care and other settings, increasing legal literacy and access to justice for key and vulnerable populations, and community-led efforts to reform harmful laws, policies and practices.
The Breaking Down Barriers initiative puts knowledge and skills in the hands of people affected by HIV, TB and malaria so they can understand, demand and secure their health-related human rights.