Working to reduce the HIV/AIDS risk for migrant women

Women migrants, who are generally more vulnerable than men, run a high risk of HIV/AIDS infection, but campaigners say it is difficult to raise their awareness about the disease. According to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), women make up almost half of the world's 185 million migrants. While migration helps women earn a living and win independence, it also exposes them to sexual and other forms of exploitation that could favour HIV/AIDS transmission. "The problem isn't migration in itself, but the conditions in which population movements take place," said Armand Rousselot, the IOM regional representative. "There's also a difference between voluntary migration and migration due to conflict." Thousands of people, for example, have fled war in Cote d'Ivoire, the country worst hit by the virus in West Africa. UN agencies and grass-roots groups say these migrants, far from home and left to fend for themselves, could help spread the epidemic in host communities. The French Research Centre on Population and Development, Cerpod, says long-term migration has increased in West Africa over the last 20 years and that more and more women and young girls are living on the economic edge, and are increasingly at risk sexually. Women make up the bulk of the migrant population on the long West African highway running from Cote d'Ivoire to Nigeria, according to a study by the World Bank-funded Lagos-Abidjan Corridor project. The four-year project, launched in 2003 with funds of US $16 million, aims to strengthen regional cooperation in order to battle the spread of HIV/AIDS at border posts and in towns along the busy 825 km long route. West Africa has a five percent HIV/AIDS infection rate but there are huge differences from country to country, with Mauritania at less than one percent and Cote d'Ivoire at up to nine percent, according to their respective governments. More than three million people travel the West African highway each year, according to the head of the Corridor project, Justin Koffi. It accounts for a huge 63 percent of trade between the 15 members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). "Women are involved in petty trade, such as shoes and clothes," Koffi told PlusNews. "Every month you see waves of women heading to regional markets either to purchase goods or to sell their produce. "Women are harassed more often than men when they travel," he added. "It's easier to trick or exploit them, especially regarding the documents needed to cross borders, passports or other papers." Papers and police can be a problem Anti-AIDS campaigners say women are sometimes forced "to bestow their favours" on security officials if they are short of money, or are not properly informed. Koffi said the project was trying to collect statistics on the problem and help women to file complaints if necessary. Oussman, who is from Benin, said that he always used to accompany his mother on her trips to do business between Benin and Ghana to make sure she was safe. "She chose me among my nine brothers and sisters because I was the strongest, to stop men tormenting her during the trip," he said. Rousselot of the IOM said that especially when police and security officers were involved, "this problem of women being exploited is a topic nations do not much like to talk about." The Corridor project has begun work to increase HIV/AIDS awareness among people in uniform and truck and bus drivers. An IOM report found that migrant women can be exposed to the virus before, during or after migration. Isolation linked to migration, separation from a regular partner, and the lack of access to information and to health facilities increase vulnerability to the virus. Campaigners say information and counselling for migrant women are necessary to tackle exploitation and vulnerability to HIV/AIDS. "We need to target cross-border migration zones," said Rousselot. The IOM has launched a pilot HIV information and counselling project in the Senegalese town of Kolda, on the crossroads between Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Gambia and Mali. 'We're trying to target potentially vulnerable populations such as young girls not at school because there's always a big risk of prostitution on thoroughfares," said Koffi from the Corridor project. "We need a huge campaign to promote female condoms, the same way we promote condoms for men," he said.