Role of Rural to Urban Migrants and Socio-Cultural Factors including Fertility intentions in the Spread of HIV Risk among Rural areas of Bure Woreda, Northwest, Ethiopia

Abstract

The AIDS epidemic is global in its span; a particularly heavy burden has fallen on Sub-Saharan Africa. The consequences of the African AIDS epidemic are growing—not only just in size—but in complexity. These consequences are no longer just biological; increasingly, they are also behavioural, social and cultural. It is well-known that 84% of the population in Ethiopia lives in rural areas relying on the agricultural sector which plays the central role in the country’s economy. However efforts to conduct HIV related studies in rural areas of the country remain extremely patchy. So far, there have been few studies concerning the nature of HIV infection in rural areas resulting in meagre information on how HIV spreads from urban to the rural areas and how local people perceive the epidemic and protect themselves from risk factors. The rural people in Bure Woreda are not an exception. The negative influences of migration, fertility intentions and other socio-cultural factors in the spread of HIV in the Amhara region in general and in the present study area in particular are not known, moreover, overlooked social activities such as leisure activities which may be linked to HIV risk behaviours among the study population of the rural to urban migrants and non-migrants in Bure Woreda, North West Ethiopia require due attention and a thorough investigation. The way in which migration contributes to the spread of HIV risk is complex and not well understood. Previous studies have focused on the destinations of migrants, or, less often, on the areas from which migrants come. In this study exploring both ends of migration routes in atypical rural areas is fundamental for successful interventions Although subsistence agriculture is the major economic activity in Ethiopia; parents want to have large numbers of children for assistance in farming activities as well as economic support during old age. In the rural areas, women’s fertility and HIV infection are not independent of one another.