Migrant Farm Workers and Sexual Health

 The instability and mobility of migrant farm workers create unique barriers to accessing health care services including: transportation, cultural, language, and legal barriers. These barriers may prevent the diagnosis and treatment of HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and encourage their transmission.  Data on the behaviours of migrant farm workers show: lower rates of condom use; higher rates of use of workers in the sex trade; multiple sex partners; needle-sharing activities, and higher rates of substance use.  Migrant farm workers may hold misconceptions about safer sex and HIV infection, as well as cultural values, beliefs, and customs that may facilitate HIV acquisition.  Engagement in higher-risk behaviours may also be a direct response to daily stress of the migrant farming lifestyle, such as separation from family and community, lack of social support, and lack of control over working and living conditions.