The association of migration with AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa is well documented, yet the social and behavioral mechanisms underlying this relationship remain poorly understood. Using data from the 1993 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey, this article examines whether migrants are more likely than nonmigrants to have multiple recent sexual partners and not use condoms with those partners. Results indicate that migration is a critical factor in high-risk sexual behavior and that its importance varies by gender and by the direction of movement. Independent of marital and cohabitation status, social milieu, awareness of AIDS, and other crucial influences on sexual behavior, male migrants between urban areas and female migrants within rural areas are much more likely than nonmigrant counterparts to engage in sexual practices conducive to HIV infection. In rural areas, migrants from urban places are more likely than nonmigrants to practice high-risk sex. Given the predominance of men in urban migration and the large volume of circulatory movement between urban and rural areas, these results have serious implications for HIV transmission throughout Kenya.

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Analysis of the 1986 Senegal Demographic and Health Survey reveals that mothers may be able to improve their children's survival chances by migrating from the countryside to the city. Children of urban migrants, however, continue to experience a much higher risk of mortality before the age of 5 than children of urban nonmigrants, even after the mother has lived in the city for several years. This migrant mortality disadvantage persists when controlling for numerous socioeconomic and fertility-related factors typically associated with child mortality in developing countries, which also serve as indicators of migrant selection and adaptation.

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Numerous studies document the disadvantage in child health of the urban poor in African cities. This study uses Demographic and Health Survey data from 23 countries in sub-Saharan Africa to examine whether the urban poor experience comparable disadvantages in maternal health care. The results show that, although on average the urban poor receive better antenatal and delivery care than rural residents, the care of the urban poor is worse than that of the urban non-poor. This suggests that the urban bias in the allocation of health services in Africa does not benefit the urban poor as much as the non-poor. Multilevel analyses reveal significant variations in maternal health in urban areas across countries of sub-Saharan Africa. The dis-advantage of the urban poor is more pronounced in countries where maternal health care is relatively good. In these countries the urban poor tend to be even worse off than rural residents, suggesting that the urban poor have benefited least from improvements in maternal health care.

Analysis of recent survey data reveals large differentials in child mortality among ethnic groups in countries throughout sub-Saharan Africa. These disparities correspond with the prominence of specific ethnic groups in the national political economy. In many countries where heads of state since independence have come from one or two ethnic groups-as in Côte d'Ivoire, Kenya, and Niger-these groups have experienced levels of early child mortality at least one-third lower than those of other groups. In other countries where there have been several transitions in state control, as in Ghana and Uganda, descendants of precolonial kingdoms such as Ashanti and Buganda have experienced much lower mortality than others. In most countries, the lower mortality of potent ethnic groups-who typically represent small proportions of national populations-is strongly related to economic privilege. Persistent inequalities among African ethnic groups deserve strong consideration in planning economic development and child health strategies.

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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to determine the effect of high-performance human resource practices on job satisfaction across four cultural regions – Asia, Europe, North America, and Latin America. High-performance human resource practices were used to predict job satisfaction for each region and then compared to determine significant differences. Hofstede's cultural dimensions were employed as a basis for structuring hypothesized differences across cultural regions. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from a proprietary industry survey on employee work attitudes. The sample consisted of over 70,000 employees from four large multinational organizations with at least four offices in each of the four regions. Data were analyzed using regression analysis and comparison testing across models. Findings – There are significant relationships between job characteristics and job satisfaction across all regions of the world, with a sense of achievement universally the most important driver. Although job characteristics impact job satisfaction across all regions, there are significant differences in the relative importance of job characteristics on job satisfaction, consistent with Hofstede's cultural dimensions. Practical implications – The findings have implications for tailoring human resource management practices across locations within multinationals. Originality/value – This research is believed to be the first cross-cultural study of human resource practices affecting job satisfaction using multiple organizations and industries.