The migration and movement of Pacific people, within their countries and between countries, plays a role in the spread of HIV, but this risk factor is underestimated in the region.

This was revealed in a UNDP report "Migration, Mobility and HIV: A Rapid Assessment of Risks and Vulnerabilities in the Pacific" launched in Suva yesterday.
 
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 counties.

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.
 
It goes on to say that skilled workers, seafarers, students, traders, civil servants, military personnel and sex workers form part of these mobile groups, which are characterized by different sexual behaviours 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.