ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines the role gender plays in the Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) epidemic in Haiti, and the specific factors that may contribute to increased risk and vulnerability of women and girls. The impact of gendered norms and power differentials appear to both directly and indirectly influence sexual risk behaviors, and thus vulnerability to HIV infection. The chapter focuses on how factors pertaining to the theory of gender and power contribute to the vulnerability faced by Haitian women regarding HIV infection. It outlines how gender and power influence HIV risk in the context of intimate relations and violence, transactional sex, male risk factors, migration, and post-conflict settings. The impact of migration on HIV-related vulnerability has received considerable scholarly attention. Haitian migration to the Dominican Republic has long been characterized as contentious; though the two nations share the island of Hispaniola, the Dominican Republic has a far better social and economic profile than neighboring Haiti.
