Alcohol, young people and HIV risk in Tanzania - Gerry Mshana
Themes:
Alcohol availability and drinking norms are understood to be among the social and economic factors shaping HIV vulnerability. Relatively little structurally informed research on alcohol and HIV to date has come from sub-Saharan Africa, so experiences and analysis from Tanzania are of particular interest for the field.
Dr Gerry Mshana draws on research into sachets - small units of hard liquor being packaged and marketed in some African countries. Is the affordability of sachets, together with targeted marketing, changing drinking norms among young people? The presentation
- describes research into the impact of sachets
- reviews alcohol taxation and pricing in Tanzania
- introduces interesting opportunities for research into young people's alcohol consumption in such settings
In addition to watching the video of this Learning Lab, you can download a PDF of the presentation slides.
Gerry Mshana is a medical anthropologist at the National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR) in Mwanza, Tanzania. Since 1999 he has been involved in developing and evaluating interventions to prevent HIV and sexually transmitted infections among young people. He has also conducted and published research around social-cultural perspectives on HIV/AIDS and non-communicable diseases such as stroke, Parkinson’s Disease and epilepsy.
Within STRIVE, Dr Mshana focuses on developing and evaluating structural interventions to address social and economic factors that drive the HIV epidemic among young people. He is particularly interested in the effect of macro-economic factors such as pricing and packaging on alcohol drinking norms among young people.
