Thesis title:
Exploring the access to PrEP among Brazilian migrant men who have sex with men: Comparative study in London and Lisbon
Abstract:
New HIV diagnoses in the UK and Portugal have decreased in recent years. Nonetheless, men who have sex with men (MSM) remain disproportionately affected.
The World Health Organization recommends that MSM should be offered pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV. PrEP is a pill taken daily or on demand before sex, which protects users from the virus. Portugal implemented PrEP in 2017 and England in 2020. Unofficial estimates indicate that up to 300,000 Brazilian migrants live in the UK and 300,000 in Portugal. Some of these are irregular migrants, which limits their access to public health services.
In this context, I seek to explore the access of Brazilian migrant MSM in London and Lisbon to PrEP. This will help to understand how the different health systems address the provision of PrEP, while paying attention to the socio-cultural specificities of Brazilian MSM migrants. My approach will include semi-structured interviews and participant observation. Theoretically, I will draw on transnationalism (Basch et al. 1994), biopower (Foucault, 1978), enacted and anticipated stigma (Earnshaw and Chaudoir, 2009).
This proposal fills research gaps in relation to the use of PrEP among vulnerable populations. Comparative studies contribute to new perceptions about the impact of wider socio-political contexts on migration and health, as well as to the identification of potential practices and policies to be transferred from one country to another. This is relevant in the post-Brexit scenario, in which the UK is changing its migration policies, and when considering the diversity of contemporary migration within the European Union.
First supervisor:
Claire Herrick
Pathway:
3-Health, Biopolitics & Social Inequality
Cohort:
2021-22
Publications:
Serrato, R.F; Soliz, A.M, 2014. A expectativa dos imigrantes bolivianos na cidade de São Paulo: reflexões sobre comunicação intercultural (The expectations of the Bolivian immigrants in the city of São Paulo: reflections on intercultural communication). Revista Brasileira de Comunicação Organizacional e Relações Públicas, v. 11 n. 21 (2014), 66-76 https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.2238-2593.organicom.2014.139240