Migration HIV and the Political Economy Theory
Human immunodeficiency Virus (H.I.V) is spread through
- Sexual intercourse with an infected individual.
- Use of needles or syringe for injections with an infected individual.
- Transfusions of infected blood and blood clotting factors; Children to an infected mother may be infected before, during or after birth due to breastfeeding.
Migration is the movement of people from one locality to another. Incase one immigrant is infected there is the risk of spread of the virus.
Sexual Intercourse with an infected person
When people move from one place to another they always don’t move with their sex partners. They therefore search for prostitutes or new partners to have sex with. Incase of unprotected sex, the virus will be transmitted. Many couples may not want to for H.I.V checkup so they may not be aware of their status. When these immigrants go back to their original sex partners the virus is spread again. This is normally worsened due to unfaithfulness of married couples or sex partners.
Use of needles or syringe for injections with an infected person
In third world countries, needles and syringe are shared due to the unaffordable new ones. Most people don’t know their status and if they know they don’t make others aware. So the use of contaminated needles is normally unavoidable. The illiterate believe that washing needles or syringe thoroughly with hot water is good enough which is not true. Immigrants may not know where to get qualified doctors and frequent quarks that expose them to the risk. When they travel back to their motherlands the virus is spread more. This is also very common with users of Heroine and other illegal drugs.
Transfusion of blood and blood clotting factors
Due to high costs of qualified doctors, Immigrants may want to look for cheap nurses without looking at the implications. Blood from donors is not screened at such clinics, this spreads the virus further.
A theoretical analysis from a political-economic perspective of migration and the transmission of HIV indicates that citizens of such states can live in any part of the country without restriction in order to improve their standards of living. Due to the struggles of life people are encouraged to look for greener pastures wherever the location, an example is whereby someone is posted to another part of the country or world for work or due to a promotion. Someone may decide to start a business in a different town from his original place of residence. In Kenya, kikuyus are good in making money so they are always ready to do this in any part of the country and end up being immigrants.
In Kenya there has been cases of Members of parliament being spotted at Koinange Street, a place for sex trade. Politics have made these people rich and can afford to spend on slats. Prostitues look at this as a major source of income. The city is filled with unemployed immigrants; everytime getting a job proves to be hard they result to prostitution in order to earn a living. Prostutes may be so desperate that they don’t mind having unprotected sex hence become vulnerable.
The current Kenyan Government is not allowing prostitution. Streets at night are being cleared everyday and slats asked to get other sources of income. These people end up getting married and may not consider going for a HIV check up before tying the note, they therefore infect their couples.
The new government should make it a law that before people get married they should go for a thorough medial check up. This law will minimize the chances of further transmissions.
In Kenya; Luos and other tribes encourage wife inheritance this happens as a tradition .The new husband is always the bread winner because most widows are normally poor and cant afford to pay for their bills. In most cases the widows normally have HIV infections. Sex with new husbands/wife is normally a risk. Brothers to the deceased brother may have to move in from other areas to live with the widow or the widow may have to move to her in-law for inheritance. The new Government is also promising to stop this tradition completely.
Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a deeply rooted tradition in some African communities; an example is the Gusii community in Kenya. Most of those who do the cutting consider it to be a source of income. They don’t change the knives so one cutting objects may be shared by more than twenty people. These circumcisers are illiterate and don’t understand the risk that they expose their clients to. They also consider new tools and equipment to be costly.
Female Genital Mutilation is a practice that is not allowed by the Kenya (in Africa) Government so those have the tradition doesn’t looks for professional help hence exposing their clients. Lately, Members of parliament from such areas have been campaigning for the abolition of such traditions.
The government should enforce the following laws:
- One man one woman: Those with job transfers should move with their wives. This will reduce the need for prostitution and unfaithfulness.
- Prisoners should be allowed to have intimate relationships with their wives: Due to the high levels of poverty in Africa citizens may be tempted to steal are engage in fraud activites. They therefore land in prisons were they might sexual intercourse with other women/men convicts. Prisoners should be visited by their wives at certain times and given a bed to help themselves.
- Prostitution should be completely abolished: Prostitutes should not be arrested but should be introduced to other styles of income generation. Most prostitutes do it for the sake of money and with most rich people being their clients they might not want to quit. Salaries for Members of Parliament should be reduced and that amount redistributed to the poor through business loans.
- Hospital/medical expenses should be made affordable: Every citizen will avoid quarks that might share needles/syringe. Gorvement’s trained medical personnel will always make sure that blood is screened before transfusion.
- Legitimacy and illiteracy should be reduced: Citizens should be encouraged to acquire knowledge and education regarding HIV transmisission.
They will therefore stop their awkward thoughts and traditions, which include;
- Female Genital Mutilation where one knife may used on more than twenty people before being washed, not even being changed.
- Marrying of daughters to rich people for the sake of dowry.
- Sharing of needles among drug users.
In conclusion, migration should never be a factor contributing the transmission of HIV. People should have sex discipline all the time regardless of their newresidence. This includes:
- Abstain
- Be faithful to their sex partners
- Have protected sex.
Prostitutes should also be made aware of the danger they are exposing themselves and the others to besides the economic value of unprotected sex.
Personal doctors should always be consulted regardless of the distance. These are the professionals that someone can trust with their treatment and cases of contaminated, blood for transfusion, needles or syringe will be reduced.
