Protecting female migrants from forced sex and HIV infection
Authors: Julie Pannetier, Andrainolo Ravalihasy, Nathalie Lydié, France Lert, Annabel Desgrées du Loû
Journal: The Lancet Public Health (2018)

We thank Nyovani Janet Madise and Bernard Onyango for their comments1Madise NJ Onyango B Protecting female migrants from forced sex and HIV infection.Lancet Public Health. 2018; 3: e2-3Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (1) Google Scholar on our Article.2Pannetier J Ravalihasy A Lydié N Lert F Desgrées duLoû A Prevalence and circumstances of forced sex and post-migration HIV acquisition in sub-Saharan African migrant women in France: an analysis of the ANRS-PARCOURS retrospective population-based study.Lancet Public Health. 2018; 3: e16-23Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (29) Google Scholar They question our insufficient elaboration on poverty as an underlying cause of forced sex in relation to HIV for migrant women. However, our study characterised, with an innovative life-course approach, the adverse living conditions faced by migrant women when they are subjected to forced sex after migration. We showed that administrative and housing insecurity are specific forms of poverty faced by migrant women.2Pannetier J Ravalihasy A Lydié N Lert F Desgrées duLoû A Prevalence and circumstances of forced sex and post-migration HIV acquisition in sub-Saharan African migrant women in France: an analysis of the ANRS-PARCOURS retrospective population-based study.Lancet Public Health. 2018; 3: e16-23Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (29) Google Scholar These insecurities, observed in large cities in Europe, result from European immigration policies and structural inequalities. We agree with Madise and Onyango that our study would benefit from a stronger framework on the link between gender and HIV, but one developed in relation to the context of migration. Our research is based on a structural approach of the gendered determinants of HIV in the specific context of migration from sub-Saharan Africa to Europe. Our study questions the relation between structural forms of violence against migrants and sexual violence against migrant women as a gendered determinant of HIV infection.2Pannetier J Ravalihasy A Lydié N Lert F Desgrées duLoû A Prevalence and circumstances of forced sex and post-migration HIV acquisition in sub-Saharan African migrant women in France: an analysis of the ANRS-PARCOURS retrospective population-based study.Lancet Public Health. 2018; 3: e16-23Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (29) Google Scholar The results show that policies denying access to human rights entail gendered insecurities by making women dependent upon transactional sex and multiple sexual partnerships to access basic survival needs. Transactional relationships increase the risk of forced sex.2Pannetier J Ravalihasy A Lydié N Lert F Desgrées duLoû A Prevalence and circumstances of forced sex and post-migration HIV acquisition in sub-Saharan African migrant women in France: an analysis of the ANRS-PARCOURS retrospective population-based study.Lancet Public Health. 2018; 3: e16-23Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (29) Google Scholar Women's dependence upon men, including intimate partners, acquaintances, and family members, strengthens the appropriation of women's bodies by men,3Guillaumin C Racism, sexism, power and ideology. Routledge, London2002Google Scholar making women more likely to be exploited or abused in domestic work, sexual services with sexual harassment, and forced sex. Control over women and intimate partner violence increase risk of incident HIV infection4Jewkes RK Dunkle K Nduna M Shai N Intimate partner violence, relationship power inequity, and incidence of HIV infection in young women in South Africa: a cohort study.Lancet. 2010; 376: 41-48Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (854) Google Scholar. Madise and Onyando point out legal and social barriers to access to care as one of our Article's understated powerful messages. However, in France, unlike some other European countries, access to the health-care system, whether regular or irregular, is relatively effective for migrants. Nevertheless, this is not enough to stop the spread of HIV infection, which requires an additional strong social and political response. The strength of our study is the identification of women who were infected with HIV after migration using a combination of life-event and clinical data. The individual-level estimate is as high as 30% for women. As noted by Madise and Onyando, another study5Alvarez-Del Arco D Fakoya I Thomadakis C et al.High levels of postmigration HIV acquisition within nine European countries.AIDS Lond Engl. 2017; 31: 1979-1988Crossref PubMed Scopus (78) Google Scholar has revealed a high level of HIV infection among migrant women once in Europe, but contrary to our estimate, this is not derived from a representative sample. We declare no competing interests. Protecting female migrants from forced sex and HIV infectionWorldwide, more than one-third of women have experienced either sexual or physical violence, often perpetrated by an intimate partner, while about 7% have been sexually assaulted by a non-partner.1 Such violence is not only a crime, but also a public health concern since it is associated with ill-health including depression, low birthweight babies, and infection from HIV.1 The study by Julie Pannetier and colleagues2 in The Lancet Public Health provides evidence of forced sex and HIV infection in female migrants in Europe. Full-Text PDF Open AccessPrevalence and circumstances of forced sex and post-migration HIV acquisition in sub-Saharan African migrant women in France: an analysis of the ANRS-PARCOURS retrospective population-based studyThe social hardships faced by sub-Saharan African migrant women after migration, especially a lack of housing or lack of a residence permit, increases their exposure to sexual violence and to HIV infection. Full-Text PDF Open Access