IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/sagope/v10y2020i2p2158244020917949.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Sexual Exchange and Cross-Border Trade: Implications for HIV/AIDS in Nigeria

Author

Listed:
  • Jubril O. Jawando
  • Ezekiel Oluwagbemiga Adeyemi

Abstract

In West African countries, borders create opportunities for informal networks of trade and exchange. Some of the women involved in activities across the borders operate without official permit. Thus, they engage in transactional sex with those who may facilitate their movement across borders. The study examines sexual relations in cross-border trade and their implications for HIV spread in Nigeria. The study was carried out at Seme, a border town between Lagos, Nigeria, and Republic of Benin. The qualitative method was used to collect data for the study. Forty women who were cross-border traders were selected for focus group discussions; they were stratified into four sessions based on the type of goods, age, and years of experience. In-depth interviews (IDIs) were used to elicit information from three drivers and 16 security agents. The study revealed that some of these women used sex as a means of negotiation with border officials to avoid their goods being confiscated, whereas others had extramarital affairs with some of the officials for financial gains and protection. None of the women interviewed used condom during her last sexual intercourse preceding the survey. More than two-thirds of the respondents had heard about HIV/AIDS, but believed that they were not at risk of infection due to their ignorance. The study concluded that the observed sexual relationships may act as conduit for HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) into both Nigeria and Benin, as these create sexual networks that may stretch over a wide geographical area. There is a need for mobile education programs targeted at this high-risk group.

Suggested Citation

  • Jubril O. Jawando & Ezekiel Oluwagbemiga Adeyemi, 2020. "Sexual Exchange and Cross-Border Trade: Implications for HIV/AIDS in Nigeria," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(2), pages 21582440209, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:sagope:v:10:y:2020:i:2:p:2158244020917949
    DOI: 10.1177/2158244020917949
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2158244020917949
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/2158244020917949?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. N/A, 2004. "The World Economy," National Institute Economic Review, National Institute of Economic and Social Research, vol. 190(1), pages 8-32, October.
    2. Campbell, Catherine, 2000. "Selling sex in the time of AIDS: the psycho-social context of condom use by sex workers on a Southern African mine," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 50(4), pages 479-494, February.
    3. Dunkle, Kristin L. & Jewkes, Rachel K. & Brown, Heather C. & Gray, Glenda E. & McIntryre, James A. & Harlow, Siobán D., 2004. "Transactional sex among women in Soweto, South Africa: prevalence, risk factors and association with HIV infection," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 59(8), pages 1581-1592, October.
    4. Eaton, Liberty & Flisher, Alan J. & Aarø, Leif E., 2003. "Unsafe sexual behaviour in South African youth," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 56(1), pages 149-165, January.
    5. Mojola, Sanyu A., 2011. "Fishing in dangerous waters: Ecology, gender and economy in HIV risk," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 72(2), pages 149-156, January.
    6. Rob Clark & B. Mitchell Peck, 2012. "Examining the Gender Gap in Life Expectancy: A Cross-National Analysis, 1980–2005," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 93(3), pages 820-837, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hirsch, Jennifer S., 2014. "Labor migration, externalities and ethics: Theorizing the meso-level determinants of HIV vulnerability," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 38-45.
    2. Mojola, Sanyu A. & Williams, Jill & Angotti, Nicole & Gómez-Olivé, F. Xavier, 2015. "HIV after 40 in rural South Africa: A life course approach to HIV vulnerability among middle aged and older adults," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 204-212.
    3. Leigh Johnson & Rob Dorrington & Debbie Bradshaw & Victoria Pillay-Van Wyk & Thomas Rehle, 2009. "Sexual behaviour patterns in South Africa and their association with the spread of HIV: insights from a mathematical model," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 21(11), pages 289-340.
    4. Choi, Susanne Y.P. & Cheung, Yuet Wah & Chen, Kanglin, 2006. "Gender and HIV risk behavior among intravenous drug users in Sichuan Province, China," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(7), pages 1672-1684, April.
    5. Stoebenau, Kirsten & Heise, Lori & Wamoyi, Joyce & Bobrova, Natalia, 2016. "Revisiting the understanding of “transactional sex” in sub-Saharan Africa: A review and synthesis of the literature," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 186-197.
    6. Maxime Fajeau, 2020. "The Adverse Effect of Finance on Growth," Working Papers hal-02549422, HAL.
    7. Mehadi Mamun, 2021. "The Impact of Foreign Aid Conditionality on Poverty Alleviation in Bangladesh: A Recipient’s Perspective," Business and Economic Research, Macrothink Institute, vol. 11(3), pages 151-161, December.
    8. Cristian Spiridon, 2012. "Trade Liberalisation In Europe And The Rest Of The World," CES Working Papers, Centre for European Studies, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, vol. 4(3), pages 407-418, September.
    9. Sabina Silajdzic & Eldin Mehic, 2022. "How Effective Is Tax Policy in Attracting Foreign Direct Investments in Transition Countries?," Central European Business Review, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2022(1), pages 19-39.
    10. Johanna Choumert & Pascale Combes Motel & Charlain Guegang Djimeli, 2017. "The biofuel-development nexus: A meta-analysis," CERDI Working papers halshs-01512678, HAL.
    11. Xu, T.T., 2012. "The role of credit in international business cycles," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 1202, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    12. Merrey, D. J. & Lefore, Nicole, 2018. "Improving the availability and effectiveness of rural and “Micro” finance for small-scale irrigation in Sub-Saharan Africa: a review of lessons learned," IWMI Working Papers H049027, International Water Management Institute.
    13. Cort, David A. & Reynolds, Kathryn & Chakraborty, Debadatta, 2023. "HIV stigma beliefs and unprotected sex among teenagers and young adults in sub-Saharan Africa: The moderating role of mass media exposure," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 317(C).
    14. Rachel Jewkes & Minja Milovanovic & Kennedy Otwombe & Esnat Chirwa & Khuthadzo Hlongwane & Naomi Hill & Venice Mbowane & Mokgadi Matuludi & Kathryn Hopkins & Glenda Gray & Jenny Coetzee, 2021. "Intersections of Sex Work, Mental Ill-Health, IPV and Other Violence Experienced by Female Sex Workers: Findings from a Cross-Sectional Community-Centric National Study in South Africa," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(22), pages 1-13, November.
    15. Cooper, Jan E. & Dow, William H. & de Walque, Damien & Keller, Ann C. & McCoy, Sandra I. & Fernald, Lia C.H. & Balampama, Marianna P. & Kalolella, Admirabilis & Packel, Laura J. & Wechsberg, Wendee M., 2017. "Female sex workers use power over their day-to-day lives to meet the condition of a conditional cash transfer intervention to incentivize safe sex," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 181(C), pages 148-157.
    16. Marshall Burke & Erick Gong & Kelly Jones, 2015. "Income Shocks and HIV in Africa," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 125(585), pages 1157-1189, June.
    17. Watt, Melissa H. & Aunon, Frances M. & Skinner, Donald & Sikkema, Kathleen J. & Kalichman, Seth C. & Pieterse, Desiree, 2012. "“Because he has bought for her, he wants to sleep with her”: Alcohol as a currency for sexual exchange in South African drinking venues," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(7), pages 1005-1012.
    18. Pronyk, Paul M. & Harpham, Trudy & Morison, Linda A. & Hargreaves, James R. & Kim, Julia C. & Phetla, Godfrey & Watts, Charlotte H. & Porter, John D., 2008. "Is social capital associated with HIV risk in rural South Africa?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(9), pages 1999-2010, May.
    19. Jonathan Robinson & Ethan Yeh, 2011. "Transactional Sex as a Response to Risk in Western Kenya," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 3(1), pages 35-64, January.
    20. Adrian Pop, 2014. "Rising through the Crisis: the Impact of Emerging Countries on the Future Distribution of Power," Knowledge Horizons - Economics, Faculty of Finance, Banking and Accountancy Bucharest,"Dimitrie Cantemir" Christian University Bucharest, vol. 6(2), pages 26-29, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:sagope:v:10:y:2020:i:2:p:2158244020917949. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.