Abstract:
A study was undertaken in Kiribati, a small Pacific island nation, that has a low-level HIV epidemic
but a high incidence of STIs among seafarers, their spouses (and children), and those involved in
sex work. There are connections between development and dependency and HIV risk in Kiribati.
Kiribati is a peripheral and dependent small island state underwritten by conditional aid and financial
assistance and advice from donor countries, entwined in, and subject to, external globalising
processes. We found two major factors related to Kiribati’s dependency engendered HIV risk.
The first is Kiribati’s reliance on transnational seafaring. Long periods away from home, shipboard
and port mateship cultures, and infrequent condom use in casual and paid sexual relations
while in overseas ports, exacerbated by heavy alcohol use, have rendered i-Kiribati seafarers vulnerable
to HIV. The second factor is related to the labour force participation of young women,
which is extremely limited. In this context, some young i-Kiribati women choose to work on board,
foreign fishing vessels selling sex. They stay with one client while on board a boat—for up to three
months—and sex work is not only an economic transaction, but also emotional and affective labour.
It is a pattern that makes consistent condom use problematic. Having multiple sequential
seafarer partners may in fact generate considerable HIV vulnerability.
