Grant: Operating Grant

This proposed study is an extension of a CIHR-funded pilot project that revealed a sharp contrast between Chinese immigrants' risky sexual behviours on the one hand and silence surrounding sex and HIV on the other. Since the early 1990s, China is the largest source of immigrants to Canada. Through the internet, Chinese mass media, and frequent travel "home", these recent immigrants commonly live in what are increasingly recognized as "transnational spaces", ones where the territorial borders of Canada and China are reduced in importance when it comes to sexual health. It appears that, unlike in earlier generations, China continues to play an important role in the lives of recent immigrants, affecting their health risk (including risk for HIV). Aiming to understand the specific vulnerability to HIV faced by the current generation of Chinese immigrants in a transnational context, the study has three main objectives: a) to understand how such "transnational spaces" have had differential impacts on Chinese immigrant men and women's exposure to HIV risk and their capacity to respond to such risk; b) to compare the ways in which HIV/AIDS related responses (such as knowledge construction, education, service delivery, involvement of civil society organizations [CSOs] and policy-making) have taken account of these gender-based differences in Canada and China; and c) to explore the implications of transnationalism and globalization on HIV interventions, as well as on inequalities, including gendered ones, in health outcomes and services. The data will be collected through qualitative interviews with Chinese immigrants, CSO workers, service providers and governmental officials in the two countries. The findings will help develop more responsive education programs, services and policies that take account of the transnational spaces and lay a foundation for strengthening future global health collaborations and governance.