“Southern Africa is the region worst affected by the global AIDS pandemic and also experiences very high levels of migration. The two countries examined in this paper, Lesotho and Malawi, have estimated adult HIV prevalence rates of 31% and 16% respectively. Both also have long histories of labour migration, although
migration patterns have changed significantly since the end of the apartheid regime in South Africa. The co-existence of high levels of both HIV/AIDS and migrancy in Southern Africa is not entirely surprising. Not only does human mobility play a very significant role in the pandemic’s spread, but migration has been shown to make people particularly vulnerable to HIV infection.
A third aspect of the relationship between HIV/AIDS and migration has thus far received much less attention, particularly in Southern
Africa: namely, migration that takes place as a result of the pandemic. AIDS imposes heavy costs at a number of levels, not only for those directly infected, but also for their families and wider communities. Coping strategies must be employed, and these sometimes involve the relocation of households or of individual household members.”
