Metrics details. French Guiana is highly affected by HIV. The migrant population is particularly susceptible. The objective of this study was to evaluate the level of risk of HIV transmission and its perception among migrants in French Guiana and to identify predictive factors.
Of the participants surveyed, were analyzed, of which Sexual risk taking was higher among the migrant population than in the general population. The predictors of sexual risk taking behavior were: younger age groups, males, having a job, not living with a spouse, having first had sex before age 16, using alcohol or drugs before sex, and having engaged in commercial sex recently. The results suggest there is still a need for information on HIV risks in a highly vulnerable population.
Peer Review reports. To make matters worse many persons are diagnosed late and are often lost to follow up before treatment can be properly administered. Even 30 years after the first cases appeared in French Guiana, the forces that drive this epidemic are incompletely understood [ 3 ]. Sex work, having tried crack cocaine and being a migrant are additional risk factors in French Guiana [ 3 ]. The exact reason for this is not clear. A first hypothesis is that migrants come from areas of high prevalence and concentrate high risk groups that thus acquire HIV outside of French Guiana; another complementary hypothesis is that migration and poverty constitute a context where sexual risks increase.
In this context the objective of the present study was to evaluate the level of risk of HIV transmission among poor urban migrants in French Guiana and to identify predictive factors.
A secondary objective was to evaluate risk perception and its predictors among migrants taking sexual risks in French Guiana. It consisted of a multicentric observational cross-sectional study carried out French Guiana. The target population was sexually active migrants in French Guiana in underprivileged neighborhoods in one of the 3 main cities -Cayenne, Kourou, and Saint Laurent du Maroni. Only migrants were included in this study.
