Truck Drivers and Fisherfolk in Sub-Saharan Africa: Understanding and Comparing their Vulnerability to HIV/AIDS

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2013
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Bryn Mawr College. Department of Growth and Structure of Cities
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Thesis
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Award
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eng
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Tri-College users only
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Abstract
In sub-Saharan Africa, truck drivers and fisherfolk are two mobile populations that are disproportionately affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. What individual behaviors or structural environments influence these populations’ vulnerability to HIV/AIDS? After reviewing truckers’ and fisherfolks’ sexual behaviors through primary epidemiological studies and comparing them to those of the general population through Demographic Health Surveys, I found that truck drivers and fisherfolk have multiple sex partners and high rates of commercial sex which increase their vulnerability to HIV/AIDS. But they exhibit safer sex practices than the general population, proving that individual sexual behaviors cannot solely explain their sustained HIV/AIDS vulnerability. It is important to recognize the high-risk structural environments in which they are embedded; this includes fish-for-sex transactions for fisherfolk and lengthy border delays for truckers. I conclude that high-risk environments are more important than individual behaviors in explaining both truck drivers’ and fisherfolks’ vulnerability to HIV/AIDS. It is only by focusing on these structural factors that public health programs will decrease these populations’ vulnerability to HIV/AIDS.
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