Murugesan S. (Murugesh)
CODE Strategies Project Focal Point
Aastha Parivaar, (with technical support from The Humsafar Trust)
India
Murugesan S. is the CODE Project Focal Point at Aastha Parivaar, a community-led organisation empowering sex workers in Mumbai and Thane. Through the CODE Strategies project, Murugesh has mobilised LGBTQ+ communities across Maharashtra and connected them with HIV testing and PrEP services using digital tools.
What do you enjoy most about what you do?
“I am thankful to the CODE project for providing us with this opportunity to mobilise LGBTQ+ communities and connect them with HIV testing and PrEP-related services. The Digital CLM tool is a powerful tool for advocacy, and I hope that we will be able to leverage and sustain this initiative.”
Murugesh coordinates the CODE Strategies project for Aastha Parivaar, which unites bar dancers, street-based, home-based, male and transgender sex workers in Mumbai and Thane under a shared platform of solidarity and rights. In the CODE project, The Humsafar Trust — India’s first community-based organisation for LGBTQ+ people — provides technical support to Aastha Parivaar in implementing community-led HIV response initiatives across Maharashtra.
Highlights of Murugesh’s work under the project include:
- Implementing the testBOM digital demand generation campaign, using social media outreach to direct communities to HIV testing and PrEP services in Mumbai.
- Supporting a sensitisation workshop on person-centred care for 30 frontline healthcare workers of the Mumbai District AIDS Control Society, promoting inclusive, non-discriminatory and community-friendly HIV service delivery.
- Bringing MSM and youth representatives into district-level community resource groups, and coordinating with district authorities in Mumbai to strengthen referral systems.
- Championing the Digital CLM (community-led monitoring) tool as a means for communities to generate evidence and advocate for better services.
About the project
About the organisation behind the project
