Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

HIV Prevalence and Risk Behaviours Among Foreign Migrant Women Residing in Cape Town, South Africa

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
AIDS and Behavior Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

HIV prevalence and risk behaviour among foreign migrants in South Africa has not been explored. This paper describes the effectiveness of respondent-driven sampling (RDS) to recruit foreign migrant women residing in Cape Town, reports HIV prevalence, and describes key characteristics among them. We conducted a biological and behavioural surveillance survey using RDS. After written informed consent, participants completed an audio computer assisted self-interview and provided a dried blood sample for HIV analysis. HIV prevalence was estimated to be 7 % (CI 4.9–9.5) among 935 women. HIV sero-positivity was associated with older age (p = 0.001), country of origin (p < 0.000), being unmarried (p < 0.000), having lived in South Africa for 3–5 years (p = 0.023), sexual debut at ≥15 years (p = 0.047), and having used a condom at last sex with a main partner (p = 0.007). Few women reported early sexual debut, or multiple sexual partners. RDS was successful in recruiting foreign migrant women.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Wolffers I, Verghis S, Marin M. Migration, human rights, and health. Lancet. 2003;362(9400):2019–20.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Wolffers I, Fernandez I. Migration and AIDS. Lancet. 1995;346(8985):1303.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Weine S, Kashuba A. Labor migration and HIV risk: a systematic review of the literature. AIDS Behav. 2012;16(6):1605–21.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  4. UNAIDS, IOM. UNAIDS and IOM sign agreement to improve access to HIV services for migrants. Geneva: UNAIDS; 2011.

  5. SANAC. National strategic plan for HIV and AIDS, STIs and TB, 2012–2016. Pretoria: South Africa National AIDS Council; 2011.

  6. Hovil L. Self-settled refugees in Uganda: an alternative approach to displacement? J Refug Stud. 2007;20(4):559–630.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Jacobsen K. The forgotten solution: local integration for refugees in developing countries. In: New issues in refugee research. UNCHR working paper no. 45. Geneva: UNHCR; 2001.

  8. Malkki L. Purity and exile: violence, memory, and national cosmology among Hutu refugees in Tanzania. Chicago: University of Chicago Press; 1995.

    Google Scholar 

  9. Clark S, Collinson M, Kahn K, Drullinger K, Tollman S. Returning home to die: circular labour migration and mortality in South Africa. Scand J Public Health Suppl. 2007;69:35–44.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  10. Essuon AD, Simmons DS, Stephens TT, Richter D, Lindley LL, Braithwaite RL. Transient populations: linking HIV, migrant workers, and South African male inmates. J Health Care Poor Underserved. 2009;20(2 Suppl):40–52.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Htun Y, Radebe F, Fehler HG, Ballard RC. Changes in the patterns of sexually transmitted infection among South African mineworkers, associated with the emergence of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. S Afr Med J. 2007;97(11 Pt 3):1155–60.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Zuma K, Lurie M, Williams B, Mkaya-Mwamburi D, Garnett G, Sturm A. Risk factors of sexually transmitted infections among migrant and non-migrant sexual partnerships from rural South Africa. Epidemiol Infect. 2005;133(3):421–8.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  13. Camlin C, Hosegood V, Newell M, McGrath N, Bärnighausen T, Snow R. Gender, migration and HIV in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. PLoS ONE. 2010;5(7):e11539.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  14. Lurie MN, Williams BG, Zuma K, et al. Who infects whom? HIV-1 concordance and discordance among migrant and non-migrant couples in South Africa. AIDS. 2003;17(15):2245–52.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Munyewende P, Rispel LC, Harris B, Chersich M. Exploring perceptions of HIV risk and health service access among Zimbabwean migrant women in Johannesburg: a gap in health policy in South Africa? J Public Health Policy. 2011;32(Suppl 1):S152–61.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Richter M, Chersich MF, Vearey J, Sartorius B, Temmerman M, Luchters S. Migration status, work conditions and health utilization of female sex workers in three South African cities. J Immigr Minor Health. 2014;16(1):7–17.

  17. Polzer T. Population movements in and to South Africa. Cape Town: Forced Migration Studies Programme, University of the Witwatersrand; 2010.

    Google Scholar 

  18. United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). 2014 UNHCR country operations profile—South Africa. http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49e485aa6.html. Accessed 25 Feb 2013.

  19. United Nations, Department of Economic Social Affairs, Population Division. Trends in international migrant stock: the 2008 revision. United Nations Database, POP/DB/MIG/Stock/Rev. 2008; 2009.

  20. UNAIDS. Report on the global AIDS epidemic Geneva: UNAIDS; 2008.

  21. UNAIDS. Global responses to AIDS progress report, Republic of South Africa. Geneva: UNAIDS; 2012.

  22. Johnston L, Whitehead S, Simic-Lawson M, Kendall C. Formative research to optimize respondent-driven sampling surveys among hard-to-reach populations in HIV behavioral and biological surveillance: lessons learned from four case studies. AIDS Care. 2010;22(6):784–92.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Shisana O, Rehle T, Simbayi L, et al. South African national HIV prevalence, incidence, behaviour and communication survey 2008: a turning tide among teenagers?. Cape Town: HSRC Press; 2009.

    Google Scholar 

  24. Johnston, LG. Introduction to respondent driven sampling to HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infection surveillance. Module 4. Introduction to respondent driven sampling. 2013. World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland. http://applications.emro.who.int/dsaf/EMRPUB_2013_EN_1539.pdf. Accessed 20 Jan 2013.

  25. Médecines Sans Frontières. Comprehensive TB/HIV services at primary health care level. Khayelitsha Annual Activity Report 2007–2008. Geneva: Médecines Sans Frontières; 2008.

  26. Weijnert C, Pham H, Krishna N, Binh L, DiNenno E. Estimating design effect and calculating sample size for respondent-driven sampling studies of injection drug users in the United States. AIDS Behav. 2012;16(4):797–806.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Johnston LG, Chen YH, Silva-Santisteban A, Raymond AH. An empirical examination of respondent driven sampling design effects among HIV risk groups from studies conducted around the world. AIDS Behav. 2013;17(6):2202–10.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  28. Johnston LG, Luthra R. Analyzing data in respondent driven sampling. In: Tyldum G, Johnston LG, editors. Applying respondent driven sampling to migrant populations: lessons from the field. London: Palgrave; 2014 (in press).

  29. Salganik MJ, Heckathorn DD. Sampling and estimation in hidden populations using respondent-driven sampling. Sociol Methodol. 2004;34:193–239.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Tomas A. Modelling the effect of differential recruitment on the bias of estimators for respondent-driven sampling. Department of Statistics, University of Oxford, United Kingdom; 2011. http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~tomas/html_links/DiffRecruitBandB.pdf. Accessed 5 April 2014.

  31. National Department of Health. The National Antenatal Sentinel HIV and Syphilis Prevalence Survey, South Africa, 2011. Pretoria: South Africa National Department of Health; 2011.

    Google Scholar 

  32. Chersich M, Rees H. Vulnerability of women in southern Africa to infection with HIV: biological determinants and priority health sector interventions. AIDS. 2008;22(suppl 4):S27–40.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  33. Baumgartner J, Geary Waszak C, Tucker H, Wedderburn M. The influence of early sexual debut and sexual violence on adolescent pregnancy: a matched case–control study in Jamaica. Int Perspect Sex Reprod Health. 2009;35(1):21–8.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  34. Geary C, Baumgartner J, Tucker H, Johnson L, Wedderburn M, Wagman J. Early sexual debut, sexual violence, and sexual risk-taking among pregnant adolescents and their peers in Jamaica and Uganda. In: Youth Research Working Paper Series. Research Triangle Park: USAID and Family Health International; 2008.

  35. UNAIDS. Addressing multiple and concurrent partnerships in southern Africa: developing guidance for bold action. Geneva, Switzerland: UNAIDS; 2009.

  36. Pilcher C, Tien H, Eron J, et al. Brief but efficient: acute HIV infection and the sexual transmission of HIV. J Infect Dis. 2004;189(10):1785–92.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  37. Halperin D, Epstein H. Why is HIV prevalence so severe in southern Africa? The role of multiple concurrent partnerships and lack of male circumcision: implications for AIDS prevention. S Afr J HIV Med. 2007;8(1):9–25.

    Google Scholar 

  38. Halperin DT, Epstein H. Concurrent sexual partnerships help to explain Africa’s high HIV prevalence: implications for prevention. Lancet. 2004;364(9428):4–6.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  39. McPhail C, Campbell C. “I think condoms are good, but, aai I hate those things”: condom use among adolescents and young people in a southern African township, South Africa. Soc Sci Med. 2001;52(11):1613–27.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. Heckathorn D. Extensions of respondent-driven sampling: analyzing continuous variables and controlling for differential recruitment. Sociol Methodol. 2007;37(1):151–207.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This research has been supported by the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) under the terms of Cooperative Agreement number U2G/PS001137-04.

Disclaimer

The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Health Systems Research Unit, South African Medical Research Council, P.O. Box 19070, Tygerberg, Cape Town, 7505, South Africa

    Loraine Townsend, Yanga Zembe & Catherine Mathews

  2. Department of Nutrition, Public Health, and Food Studies, New York University, New York, NY, USA

    Maggie Giorgio

  3. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Pretoria, South Africa

    Mireille Cheyip

  4. School of Public Health and Family Medicine, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa

    Catherine Mathews

Authors
  1. Loraine Townsend
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Maggie Giorgio
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Yanga Zembe
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Mireille Cheyip
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Catherine Mathews
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Loraine Townsend.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Townsend, L., Giorgio, M., Zembe, Y. et al. HIV Prevalence and Risk Behaviours Among Foreign Migrant Women Residing in Cape Town, South Africa. AIDS Behav 18, 2020–2029 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-014-0784-1

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-014-0784-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation