This was revealed in the report “Migration, Mobility and HIV: A Rapid Assessment of Risks and Vulnerabilities in the Pacific” launched here in Suva, Fiji.
The report highlights that Papua New Guinea, Guam, Northern Marianas, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Palau, Marshall Islands, New Caledonia and French Polynesia are likely to face greater HIV transmission risks associated with mobility when compared with other Pacific Island countries or territories.
In Papua New Guinea the high prevalence of HIV points to the significance of internal migration, while in the other countries significant sex worker populations, growing urbanization and other mobile groups such as soldiers and seafarers who have a risk-taking ethos add to these countries’ HIV vulnerability.
The joint United Nations Development Program and Secretariat of the Pacific Community report was launched at the Annual meeting of National AIDS Committee/Capacity Development Organization currently underway in Suva.
The report reviews a number of different migrant behaviors within two broad types of migration: internal migration, and urbanization in particular; and external migration — individuals leaving the Pacific and those entering the region.
Skilled workers, seafarers, students, traders, civil servants, military personnel and sex workers form part of these mobile groups, which are characterized by different sexual behaviors and different risk exposure to HIV and STI as well as access to services.
The report highlights that it is not mobility or migration in itself that make people vulnerable to HIV, but the conditions under which people move or migrate, and the conditions and level of services they are able to access throughout the mobility system.
The report is expected to contribute to the development of multi-sectoral responses required to address HIV in the Pacific and provide the driving force for more targeted research in this area and cooperation between countries for the development of effective and targeted interventions for people on the move.
The report also highlights that a number of Pacific countries — Australia, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Marshall Islands, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands and Tonga — have in place some form of restrictions on entry, stay and residence of people living with HIV or AIDS. These restrictions have no public health justification, are discriminatory and global evidence suggests that are ineffective. The report urges that these restrictions be removed as they could hinder effective HIV responses.
