Date of Award

1-1-2019

Document Type

Open Access Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Public Health (MPH)

Department

School of Public Health

First Advisor

Kaveh Khoshnood

Second Advisor

John Pachankis

Abstract

Over the course of the past two decades, the number of people who have been displaced has increased dramatically. With this brings a new set of health challenges for these populations as well as the countries to which these populations are displaced such as HIV/AIDS. There is evidence to show that forced displacement can cause an increase in the HIV prevalence among those displaced. However, there is evidence to suggest the contrary, as well.

The aim of this scoping review study is to determine what the existing literature can and cannot tell us about how forced displacement affects HIV prevalence among those displaced. With this better understanding of existing literature, further research can be planned more effectively to fill in existing gaps. A scoping review protocol was developed and two databases, PubMed and Medline, were scanned for articles that met the inclusion criteria. In total, 636 article titles and abstracts were scanned and of these, 85 articles were read in full and 25 were deemed to meet the inclusion criteria.

Analysis of the extracted data revealed a potential influence of the HIV prevalence of the country being fled to and the HIV prevalence of the displaced group. If the HIV prevalence of a country or region was high, the HIV prevalence of displaced groups fleeing to these regions were higher. The same trend was seen with HIV low regions and a lower HIV prevalence in displaced groups. The scoping review also showed a lack of proper studies having been done to answer this particular question. There was also a lack of studies of certain regions of the world regarding HIV prevalence among displaced populations such as the Middle East and Central and Southern America. In order to answer this question more effectively, a longitudinal study of a fixed population should be done to determine how forced displacement affects HIV prevalence among those displaced.

Comments

This is an Open Access Thesis.

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