SABCOHA has called for the legalisation of sex workers in South Africa as part of the fight to reduce HIV/AIDS, CEO Brad Mears told the audience at the 'Sex Workers and the World of Work' breakfast held in conjunction with the Colloquium for Social Entrepreneurs on 28 May 2009.

Mears said: "Sex workers play a key part in understanding sexual behaviour and improving prevention. Sex work occurs in many places and at all times, including the workplace and during working hours. Sex workers play a key part in understanding sexual behaviour and improving prevention. Rejected by many and placed on the periphery when looking for solutions, surely sex workers need to be fully integrated when developing a Private Sector Response to HIV?"

The speakers were Lauren Jankelowitz, the programme manager: special services and community engagement in the Reproductive Health and HIV Research Unit at the University of the Witwatersrand; Lara Magu, a sex worker and co-ordinator of the sex worker's movement Sisonke, Johannesburg branch; and Tertius Wessels, from Trucking Wellness, who will gave an example of workplace programmes that have been implemented in the trucking industry.

Click here to read The Times newspaper article on the event: