Men’s Migration, Women’s Personal Networks, and Responses to HIV/AIDS in Mozambique

Winfred Avogo and Victor Agadjanian
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Winfred Avogo: Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Illinois State University, Campus Box 4660, Normal Illinois, IL 61790, USA
Victor Agadjanian: T. Denny Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA

IJERPH, 2013, vol. 10, issue 3, 1-21

Abstract: This study brings together the literature on social network approaches to social capital and health and on migration and HIV risks to examine how non-migrating wives of labor migrants use their personal networks to cope with perceived risks of HIV infection in rural southern Mozambique. Using data from a 2006 survey of 1,680 women and their dyadic interactions, we compare the composition of personal networks, HIV/AIDS communication, and preventive behavior of women married to migrants and those married to non-migrants. Results show that migrants’ wives were more likely than non-migrants’ wives to have other migrants’ wives as personal network members, to engage in HIV/AIDS communication, and to discuss HIV prevention. However, they were no more likely to talk about HIV/AIDS with migrants’ wives than with non-migrants’ wives. They were also no more likely to talk about AIDS and its prevention than non-migrants’ wives who express worry about HIV infection from their spouses. Finally, we detect that network members’ prevention behavior was similar to respondents’, although this did not depend on migration. We contextualize these findings within the literature and discuss their policy implications.

Keywords: labor migration; personal networks; HIV/AIDS; social capital; homophily; selection; social influence; health; sub-Saharan Africa; Mozambique (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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