Iryna Pykalo
I. Pykalo1, A. Sarnatska2, L. Madden3. 1Ukrainian Institute on Public Health Policy, Ukraine; 2Club Eney NGO, Ukraine; 3APT Foundation, United States
Background: Female sex workers (FSWs) are the highest risk group for gender-based violence (GBV). According to research in Ukraine, 76% of FSW who use drugs experienced violence. FSW also faced verbal abuse (69.5%), threats (50.1%) and forced labor (49.5%); a third were beaten (38.3%); a quarter (24.3%) were raped. GBV disproportionately affects FSW and women who use drugs (WUD). WINGS is an intervention and a therapeutic tool to identify GBV among WUD, which enables them to develop security planning strategies, to strengthen social support network, to identify and access various services to reduce the risk of GBV.
Methods: The WINGS was conducted for two groups who hadn’t had the experience of the WINGS sessions – WUD and FSWs. In a month after the session participants were asked whether the selected goals and needs were fulfilled. The choices included 15 goals and 12 needs, but women chose those that were most applicable for them. Follow-up interviews were conducted 1 month after the intervention.
Results: 100% of the participants reported having benefited from the WINGS. Participants' feedback was received on how taking part in the intervention affected future violence. The majority of participants reported that the most important service for solving their urgent needs was completed.
Conclusions: The project developed a gender-sensitive organizational capacity by adapting the WINGS methodology to improve access to HIV services and counter GBV among WUD and FSWs in Kyiv, Ukraine.