Transgender sex workers
These groups focus on providing resources that transgender people are often unable to access like education, shower facilities, and job placement programs.
Sex workers as a whole are a vulnerable population due to obstacles like poverty, poor health, and legal and social barriers.
[9] Transgender sex workers with history of homelessness, unemployment, incarceration, mental health issues, violence, emotional, physical, or sexual abuse, or drug use are further at risk of being trapped in a cycle of poverty.
[12] In the United States, there are no explicit legal protections on a federal level for transgender workers based on gender identity or expression.
[13] This lack of legal protection places transgender workers in a position to have higher rates of unemployment and greater risk of poverty.
[16] Sex workers as a population experience higher risk for various health conditions, including HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
There is an urgent need for HIV data for transgender sex workers all around the world, especially in Africa, eastern Europe, and central Asia.
[12] According to the CDC, data collected by local health departments and scientists studying transgender communities have shown high levels of HIV and disparities between racial groups.
[20] Sex workers in China are often detained in "re-education through labor" (RTL) centers that focus on moral and vocational training.
In addition to the health care problems experienced by transgender men and women, traditional health care plans do not always cover the costs relative to transitioning, which may lead to men and women resorting to alternative methods to pay for transitioning or force them to seek out unsafe methods of making these changes such as using hormones bought off the street or sharing needles while injecting hormones.
[24] Transgender and sex worker populations have difficulty accessing health care services due to social stigma.
[25] A survey of sex workers, which included transgender responses, in four African countries, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Uganda, and South Africa, reported that denial of treatment for injuries associated with physical or sexual assault as well as general public services was common.
[13] Due to this lack of protections, transgender people are at a higher risk of experiencing unemployment and finding employment in unofficial markets like the sex work industry.
[27] However, programs in Mexico that aim for lower rates of HIV and other STIs do not address these root causes directly, instead taking an approach that focuses on quick action by providing condoms and other prevention measures.
[30][31] Sex workers work in a variety of settings and are often open to exploitation, harassment, and physical and sexual abuse from clients, managers, and police.
[29] Self reported surveys have become a major form of data collection on sex worker violence in part due to research by Departments of Health or social service organizations.
Sex workers in Nepal, Mexico, and other countries often report verbal and physical harassment at the hands of police officers as well as sexual violence in some extreme cases.
