Russian Labor Migrant HIV Prevention Trial

This study is a randomized outcome trial of a social network HIV prevention intervention for at-risk labor migrants who have arrived in St. Petersburg, Russia, to seek work. Most come to St. Petersburg from Moldova, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, and other poor post-Soviet republics. While living in Russia, labor migrants are also living in a city and country with high HIV prevalence. Many labor migrants have limited awareness of AIDS, and most are living in a location far from their spouses, family members, and others. For that reason, labor migrants are vulnerable to risk behavior for contracting HIV. This study hypothesizes that members of labor migrant social networks whose network leaders are trained to deliver HIV prevention messages will exhibit greater reductions in sexual risk behavior (unprotected intercourse with nonspousal partners) from baseline to 3- and 12-month followup assessments than will members of social networks whose members receive standard, individual HIV risk reduction counseling alone.