Conducting rapid qualitative research to support sex workers' health and social needs in the face of COVID-19: capitalising on stakeholder networks from the HIV response in Singapore to drive policymaking

As of mid-June 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has afflicted over 8 million people.1 Sex workers, in particular, have not been given due attention during the COVID-19 pandemic; rapidly emerging data show that many sex workers are experiencing extreme hardship due to a total loss of income and increased discrimination and harassment.2 Since COVID-19 was first reported in Singapore, its spread has been characterised by a sharp rise in cases among migrant workers, which led to public health concerns around the transmission risk that this population might have had with other individuals in the community, including sex workers.3 In Singapore, there exists ‘formal’ sex workers who operate out of strictly regulated brothels, alongside ‘informal’ sex workers who operate out of entertainment establishments and those who solicit clients on the streets at the red-light districts or through online channels.4 To address these growing …