If women do not have easy access to financial resources, they may be economically bound to risky partnerships or pressured to exchange sex for money or goods, increasing their exposure to infection. Physical consequences of infection, such as infertility, may be punished more severely in women, such as through loss of social status, abandonment, or divorce. Women may also be blamed as carriers of sexually transmitted infections and suffer physical violence as a result. Migration Movement of populations, whether voluntary or forced, brings individuals and groups in contact with infections to which they may otherwise not have had exposure. Long term or cyclical labor migration that takes men or women away from their families often results in new infections returning with the workers to their families and home communities.
Trade routes can bring mobile people into contact with one another and with each other's infections.
Forced migration, such as in the case of refugees, also brings populations with different disease prevalence together. Many refugee populations are composed mainly of women and children. Sexual assault, unwanted pregnancy, and commercial sex all increase, which can raise the risk of infections. Misconceptions RTIs, particularly those related to sexuality, touch on sensitive issues. Accurate information may not be widely available.