Southern Africa
 Migration Issues The majority of Southern African countries are characterized by highly mobile, young populations and porous borders. Most are either post-conflict or economically and/or politically unstable. Given this background, irregular migration and border management remain among the major challenges for the governments in the region. Southern Africa is rife with human trafficking for both sexual and labour exploitation, and further witnesses a large scale of smuggling of persons. Cross-border and internal labour migration has historically been a common way of life for many people in the region. However, concerns regarding increasing brain drain phenomenon, particularly that of health workers, engineers and teachers, remain paramount. Few countries in the region have specific policies or development strategies, which pay adequate attention to migration realities. The prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is high in many countries in the region, and access to health care and treatment for mobile populations continues to be a major challenge. Communicable diseases such as cholera, H1N1 influenza and multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (TB) are among the emerging concerns. The region also faces other humanitarian challenges, as seen in the recent cholera outbreak, as well as recurrent natural disasters such as floods. IOM's interventions have been successful in assisting governments and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to jointly address these challenges through well-established regional progammes such as: Technical Corporation on Migration Management (TCMM), Migration Dialogue for Southern Africa (MIDSA), and the Southern African Counter-trafficking Assistance Programme (SACTAP), as well as the Partnership on HIV and Mobility in Southern Africa (PHAMSA). |
