24 February 2026 | Podcast, YouTube, Spotify and Apple

Transactional sex in contexts of forced displacement is widely discussed, yet too often framed through narrow lenses and conflated with trafficking, exploitation, or sex work. In this episode of the Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters (SRHM) Podcast, Eszter Kismődi speaks with Dr Shirin Heidari and Professor Monica A. Onyango about the multi-country study Survival Strategies and Health Repercussions in Forced Displacement (2025).

Drawing on research conducted between 2021 and 2024 in Jordan, Lebanon, Türkiye, Greece, and Switzerland, the conversation explores how transactional sex unfolds within the structural conditions of displacement — shrinking protection space, restrictive asylum regimes, precarious legal status, housing insecurity, and limited access to employment and health services. Moving beyond simplistic binaries between “choice” and “force,” the episode highlights how agency and vulnerability coexist within highly constrained environments.

The discussion situates transactional sex at the intersection of migration governance, humanitarian policy, gender inequality, and sexual and reproductive health and rights, underscoring the need for conceptual clarity, integrated service provision, and rights-based responses grounded in lived realities.

Listen to the full episode: Transactional Sex and Forced Displacement (36 minutes). Also available on Apple Podcasts and YouTube.