Livelihoods transformed as Ugandan organizations empower former sex workers.

The Family Medical Point (FMP) Organisation in Uganda is key in focusing on empowering sex workers by advocating for their rights, improving access to services, and addressing socio-economic challenges. 

FMP is actively involved in news-worthy initiatives focused on improving sexual and reproductive health services, particularly within vulnerable communities in Uganda, including fishing communities and sex workers. 

Recent news includes FMP's empowerment of girls in Kigungu through menstrual health education and product distribution, calls for expanded reproductive health services in fishing communities, and the launch of the "Pleasure Project" to integrate sexual pleasure in abortion care and sex work in Uganda's fishing community

Musawo session

In a recent FMP “Musawo” Sessions to address the Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) crisis among sex workers in Entebbe, health workers offered health awareness services to participants during A Session in Nakiwogo, Entebbe, extended vital sexual and reproductive health (SRHR) Services to over 100 sex workers in the Nakiwogo fishing community held on July 23, 2025, at Nakayiza Estates.

The outreach, aimed at empowering women and girls with accurate health information in a stigma-free environment, reached 112 sex workers with crucial services including HIV testing, family planning, mental health counseling, and post-abortion care.

During the session, many participants raised alarm over the growing condom shortage that continues to expose them to heightened risks of HIV, unintended pregnancies, and unsafe abortions. Although FMP distributed 9,000 condoms during the session, demand far outstripped supply.

“We are forced to buy even ‘Government of Uganda’ branded condoms that are supposed to be free,” lamented Suzan, one of the sex workers in attendance.

Ms Nabwire Polyne, the Head of Programmes at FMP, linked the escalating scarcity to the reinstatement of the Global Gag Rule, a policy shift that has disrupted funding for SRHR services across Uganda.

She emphasized that the rollback in international support has crippled essential health interventions for vulnerable populations.

One of the participants Suzan, during our Musawo Session in Nakiwogo,expressed the challneges faced when accessing condoms, callin for the protection of access to free, quality condoms with no exceptions.

“We are forced to buy even government condoms and those that have them sell at high prices,” she said.

According to experts, in Uganda, most of the organizations advocating for the rights of sex workers work to address the comprehensive Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR): and mental health needs of sex workers, social-economic issues, challenge the criminalization and stigmatization of sex workers,  advocate for the socio-economic empowerment of sex workers, promote the human rights of sex workers and ensure their access to justice and protection, create safe spaces for sex workers to address challenges and find solutions, engage in policy advocacy and raise awareness about issues affecting sex workers, such as the Sexual Offences Bill among others within the broader context of human rights in Uganda.