Population Council Projects | Assessing the Patterns and Drivers of Migration and Mobility of Sex Workers and Male Migrant Workers on the Move and Examining the Links with HIV Risk

PROJECT
Assessing the Patterns and Drivers of Migration and Mobility of Sex Workers and Male Migrant Workers on the Move and Examining the Links with HIV Risk

Both India’s National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) and the Avahan initiative of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have placed special emphasis on the need to reduce HIV risk among mobile populations by implementing interventions to prevent the spread of the virus. At present, however, little is known about the patterns of movement of various at-risk populations, the nature and extent of the interaction among them, and the implications of such migration on HIV transmission.

Specific objectives of this project are to:

describe the volume and patterns of migration and mobility of sex workers (i.e., female and male sex workers and hijras) as well as migrant men in the states of southern and western India with high HIV prevalence;
examine the links between migration/mobility and HIV risk; and
assess the underlying and proximate determinants—particularly the role of facilitators of migration—at the individual, family, and community levels.

Council staff members are conducting research in four states in southern and western India with high prevalence of HIV, namely, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu. (Goa may be included if there is adequate evidence from the initial stages of research to suggest a large volume of migration toward Goa.) As a first step, surveys will be conducted at the major destination points of male migrant workers and sex workers in major cities of Andhra Pradesh (especially Hyderabad), Karnataka (especially Bangalore), Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu (especially Chennai). The surveys will be followed by the identification, characterization, and survey of intermediate destination points/transit points and points of origin of the migrants.

Location

Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu, India

Duration

December 2005–December 2008

Population Council researchers

Ravi K. Verma, Anrudh Jain, Saroj Pachauri, Saumya RamaRao, Niranjan Saggurti, Vaishali Sharma

Non-Council collaborators

Shalini Bharat (Tata Institute of Social Sciences)

Shiva Halli (Karnataka Health Promotion Trust)

Hanimi Reddy (TNS Pvt. Ltd.)

Rajendra Singh (MODE Pvt. Ltd.)

Donor

Avahan, the India AIDS Initiative of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation