Sex Trafficking and the Proliferation of HIV in Africa

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-1-2022

Publication Title

Journal of Human Trafficking, Enslavement and Conflict-Related Sexual Violence

DOI

10.7590/266644722X16563337545175

Abstract

What role does human trafficking play in the spread of infection, particularly HIV? There is a growing amount of research examining the connection between international security issues and HIV. This work has mostly focused on conflict dynamics and shows that political instability in the form of international and domestic conflict leads to increases in the prevalence of HIV in Africa. Further, current literature on sex trafficking suggests that this practice may be directly connected to the spread of HIV. However, there is little exploration of this connection beyond case studies of individual countries. In this paper, we address this research deficit by unpacking the link between sex trafficking and the spread of infection. We develop a theory and conduct an empirical test to assess whether there is any link between trafficking and HIV in a sample of 45 countries in Africa from 2001 to 2016. We find that places that are destinations for sex trafficking have a higher prevalence of HIV. This research contributes to the literature on human security and epidemiology by revealing important implications for understanding the consequences of human trafficking and the spread of HIV.

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