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Marginalisation of migrants fuels HIV

By Andrea Downer, Freelance Writer

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) says the hardships and challenges that migrants face worldwide fuels the spread of HIV, rather than the act of migration or those who migrate.

According to UNFPA’s Sate of World Population Report 2006,

“despite stereotypes and common assumptions, it is neither migrants nor migration per se that increases the risks of HIV transmission, but the trying conditions and hardships that many (migrants) face throughout the migration experience that makes them more vulnerable to (HIV) infection.”

The report, which was released in Jamaica on Wednesday, September 20, 2006, states that separation from family and spouses, isolation and loneliness, can encourage people to engage in high-risk sexual relations.

“Mobility itself makes it harder to reach migrants with prevention information, condoms, counselling and testing services or care,” the report stated.

The report further states that the social, cultural, economic challenges as well as language barriers that migrants often face make it difficult for them to access services needed to prevent HIV.

Dr. Robert Carr, Board Member of Caribbean Vulnerable Communities (CVC) supports this view. Dr. Carr noted that epidemiology has proven that HIV spreads fastest and most viciously among marginalized populations such as migrant communities.

“Their marginalization drives them away from information, and prevents them from being able to access the kind of support that would allow them to address their vulnerability,” he stated.

The UNFPA report stated that the legal status and occupation of migrants would also influence their HIV risk.

“Undocumented migrants may fear deportation if they approach health-care providers or may be unable to afford health care,” the report stated.

The report explained that in some cases, migrants often know little about HIV and have very little prior experience with health care services in their native countries and said migration and forced or voluntary sex work is linked to HIV infection.

“Women migrants who are smuggled, stranded in transit, travelling alone, trafficked, unemployed and left with no recourse, but to engage in survival sex or sex work, face heightened risks of exploitation, violence and, by extension, HIV infection.

The report said seasonal or returned migration increase risks of HIV transmission to partners and spouses. Domestic migrant workers is one group which face increased HIV infection risk and are vulnerable to violations of their reproductive rights.

The report noted that as in 2005, of the 25 million migrants worldwide, 13 per cent were from the Latin American and Caribbean region. In some parts of the Caribbean, one in five people have left their country of origin.

UNFPA estimates that domestic workers represent up to 60 per cent of all internal and international migrants from Latin America, many of whom go to Europe and North America. In addition, it said research in Latin America shows that migrant women report more unintended pregnancies, have lower contraceptive use and generally utilize reproductive health services less often than do non-immigrants. Recent studies indicate that women migrants are often sexually exploited, particularly when they require assistance or protection at border crossings, making them vulnerable to sexually transmitted diseases.