Identifying Opportunities for HIV Prevention with Female Migrants in Kenya

This 5-year research program addresses a neglected topic of HIV prevention research: HIV risks to female migrants in sub-Saharan Africa. The research uses mixed quantitative and ethnographic methods to investigate how migration and mobility facilitate women’s risks of acquiring and transmitting HIV infection. The first phase of the research in Kisumu, Kenya aims to

• Describe women’s patterns of migration and mobility, and the spatial and social features of the common destinations of female migrants
• Identify the social, environmental and structural aspects of women’s migration which render it particularly hazardous vis-à-vis HIV risks
• Describe HIV-related beliefs, attitudes and sexual risk behaviors among female migrants The ultimate aim of this research is to develop and test a multi-level HIV prevention intervention with female migrants in western Kenya.