I used to do activities at the beach, such as cleaning fish, helping people load and clean their boats, and they would pay me. I would help my daughter wash her clothes; I would escort her to school and cook food for her. Ms Hassan would normally provide for herself and her daughter by doing sex work and other informal jobs, such as the work on the beach.
I live in fear and worry. Everything changed. Life is tough. Clients disappeared, vanished. She is not alone in her worry. Most of the women who use drugs in Dar es Salaam survive in the same way as Ms Hassan does, by doing sex work, trading and doing other jobs in the informal sector.
They live in camps for people who use drugs or in informal and densely populated settlements. Here, she informs people on prevention of tuberculosis TB and takes samples from clients for TB screening. She has also received information and support from other local community-based organizations, including donations to the community and the clients she works with in the Temeke MAT clinic.
It also provided women with the ability to stay at home instead of going out, for example to do sex work, and to negotiate less risky sex. Many of the women who use drugs are living with or at risk of HIV infection and depend on reliable access to treatment and care, including harm reduction services.
Despite the support in the community, some services that the women who use drugs depend on have been halted. No condom distribution or other commodities, only needle and syringes distribution. Ms Hassan and Ms Kinanda both recount facing increased stigma during the pandemicβsome derived from unintended consequences of the support, since the face masks they received were a certain colour, making the wearer identifiable in the local community as a person who uses drugs.
