We're Tisha Wheeler and Elizabeth Mziray and we're here to discuss our
PLOS Collection that examines evidence-based solutions to curbing
transmission of HIV and other STIs among sex workers -- Ask Us Anything!
Abstract
Hi Reddit, we’re Tisha Wheeler and Elizabeth Mziray, and we work at
global health agencies that are leading the global response for key
populations in the global HIV/AIDS epidemic. My name is Tisha Wheeler,
and I am a senior HIV/AIDS advisor for key populations at the United
States Agency for International Development (USAID), where I lead policy
making, design, implementation, and evaluation of key populations
HIV/AIDS programs. I am joined by Elizabeth Mziray, an operations
officer with the World Bank, where she supports countries in improving
the efficiency and effectiveness of their HIV programs. She is the task
team leader for the Bank’s technical support program in West and Central
Africa that includes support for improving the scale, quality, targeting
and coverage of HIV services for sex workers and their clients through
integrated technical assistance and a capacity building program. We are
here to discuss a special PLOS Collection titled “Focus on Delivery &
Scale: Achieving HIV Impact with Sex Workers”. In our collections
overview published in PLOS ONE we highlight the evidence that shows
protecting sex workers from HIV/STI transmission is both necessary and
feasible for controlling the epidemic. The eighteen papers published in
this collection demonstrate the importance and scalability of existing
interventions through four key themes: 1) epidemiology, data needs and
modelling of sex work in generalized epidemics; 2) implementation
science addressing practical aspects of intervention scale-up; 3)
community mobilization and 4) the treatment cascade for sex workers
living with HIV. We will be answering your questions on Wednesday
November 25 at 10am PST (1pm EST, 6 pm UTC) – Ask Us Anything! NOTE:
Richard Steen, first author on the PLOS Collection Overview, has joined
the AMA from his medical mission in Tanzania.