Mobile people are those “who move from one place to another temporarily, seasonally or permanently for a host of voluntary or involuntarily reasons” (UNAIDS Technical Update, February 2001). They include truck drivers, seafarers, transport workers, agricultural workers, business people, traders, employees of large industries, government officials, uniformed service officers, construction workers, and sex workers.

Migrants are mobile people who take up residence or who remain in a place away from home for an extended period.  Internal migrants are those people who move from home to other locations within their own countries. This includes rural-rural, rural-urban, urban-rural movement and resettlement of people. External migrants refer to people who cross international borders and take up residence in a foreign country.   In the GMS region, women make up a growing proportion of migrants, many of whom travel to foreign countries to seek employment in domestic services.

People affected by mobility are those vulnerable to HIV and its impacts through interaction with others who are mobile, even if they are not mobile themselves. They include people who live at the places from where mobile people come, and people living at places where mobile people go. They include spouses, children and elderly people.