Poverty increases the risk of HIV/AIDS when it propels the unemployed into unskilled migratory labour pools in search of temporary and seasonal work, which increases their risk of HIV/AIDS. Poverty also drives girls and women to exchange sex for food, and to resort to sex work for survival when they are excluded from formal sector employment and all other work options are too low-paying to cover their basic needs. Abject poverty often leads to a casual, day-to-day existence dominated by survival needs, and at the extreme, poverty fosters a fatalistic attitude that manifests itself in indifference to high-risk sexual and other behaviours. In these circumstances, individuals are poorly motivated and poorly equipped to take the necessary steps to protect themselves from HIV.