Anxiety is pervasive among sex workers. Barely recovered from the health crisis linked to the Covid-19 epidemic, they now fear the spread of the monkeypox virus, to which they are particularly exposed. “We do not want sex workers, as during Covid, to find themselves without money, without housing or even in debt, in short, insecure, because they cannot work”dreads Eva Vocz, project manager for sex workers at Act Up-Paris, a militant association in the fight against AIDS.
With 1,837 people affected by monkeypox in France as of July 26 and more than 18,000 cases reported in seventy-eight countries, this infectious disease was considered, on Saturday July 23, as a public health emergency of international concern. by the World Health Organization (WHO). Community health associations, very mobilized in prevention, are asking the public authorities to speed up the process to curb the disease.
Men who have sex with men, transgender people who have multiple partners, and sex workers are most at risk. The disease can be transmitted by direct contact with mucous membranes and skin lesions, through contaminated surfaces or objects or even by droplets during prolonged face-to-face exposure. Health insurance imposes twenty-one days of total isolation without physical contact with others “from the date of onset of symptoms until complete healing of the skin lesions”, she specifies.
No daily allowances
Three weeks of inactivity can be particularly costly for sex workers who cannot always benefit from daily allowances in the event of sick leave. “Few sex workers declare their activity, the system does not encourage us to do so and, for some, it is not even possible since they are in an irregular situation in France”, explains Thierry Schaffauser, national coordinator of the Sex Work Union (Strass) and sex worker. In France, in 2015, according to the latest figures from the ministry responsible for equality between women and men, 93% of the approximately 30,000 people who prostituted themselves were foreigners.
Calvy, by her professional escort name, contracted the monkeypox virus in early June. He had to isolate himself for three weeks with his companion and remained almost without income. ” For the first time, [j’ai] asked for advances from regular customers and I solicited friends who gave me money in a kittyconfides the Niortais. We also warned our landlord that we will be late on the rent of 600 euros. » Now immune to monkeypox, he works twice as hard and remains vigilant against Covid-19.
For his part, Thierry Schaffauser has reduced his activity: he only works with a few regular clients, who probably have several other partners, and refuses collective sex. Consequently, “I think I lost about a third of my income”, calculated the trade unionist. For prevention, he believes that customers should also have access to vaccination, for the moment limited to the most exposed populations. “It is always sex workers who take responsibility for harm reduction”s’indigne M. Schaffauser.
For the WHO, men who have sex with men, the population most affected by the virus, should reduce the number of their sexual partners. “We can’t ask people to stop fucking without compensation”reacts the national coordinator of Strass.
To limit potential damage, community health associations are calling for housing for the most precarious people, compensation for sex workers affected by the infectious disease, transparency on the number of doses available and an acceleration of the vaccination. So far, 7,000 people have been vaccinated and 42,000 doses have reportedly been made available.
Five people have died from the disease in Africa, and about 10% of cases require hospital admission to try to ease the pain patients are experiencing. This figure is probably underestimated according to Benjamin Davido, infectious disease specialist at the Raymond-Poincaré hospital in Garches (Hauts-de-Seine).