Modeling the impact of international travellers on the trend of the HIV/AIDS epidemic

Abstract

This study aimed to determine the impact of international travellers (tourists) on the prevalence of HIV/AIDS. A compartmental epidemic model was extended to include the effect of tourists on the spread of HIV/AIDS. Nonlinear ordinary differential equations were used to describe the rate of change in the number of individuals in the respective compartments. Tourists are defined as travellers who leave their country for a period of time. The reproduction number was calculated to provide new insight into the spread of HIV/AIDS. The results indicated that the constant flow of tourists into a country increases the spread of these diseases, although it does not change the status of the HIV/AIDS spread from endemic to epidemic.