Janet Seeley, Charlotte H Watts, Susan Kippax, Steven Russell, Lori Heise, Alan Whiteside, Justin Parkhurst, James Hargreaves et al
Journal of the International AIDS Society, 2012; Vol 15 Supplement 1
Browse special issue
Tackling the structural drivers of HIV: is this a luxury add-on or essential for successful interventions? Papers present evidence of the need to understand and address the factors that create and deepen HIV risk.
Published with STRIVE support, this special issue raised key debates ahead of the 2012 International AIDS Conference and beyond. Among others:
Janet Seeley, Charlotte Watts, Lori Heise et al summarise the evidence in the editorial;
Justin Parkhurst et al. describe what a structural intervention agenda should look like, and how this might relate to current HIV programmes;
James Hargreaves et al. examines the shifting relationship between education level and the dynamics underlying trends in sexual behaviour among young people in Tanzania.
Abstract
The social, economic, political and environmental structural factors that increase susceptibility to HIV infection and undermine prevention and treatment efforts continue to pose a challenge. The papers in this series highlight the importance of sustaining those efforts to address the structural drivers of the HIV epidemic, and that initiatives to achieve HIV elimination will only come about through a comprehensive HIV response, that includes meaningful responses to the social, political, economic and environmental factors that affect HIV risk and vulnerability. In the context of declining resources for HIV/AIDS, the papers speak to the need to integrate responses to the structural drivers of HIV/AIDS into future HIV investments, with both initiatives to integrate HIV into broader gender and development initiatives, as well as adaptations of current service models, to ensure that they are sensitive to and able to respond to the broader economic and social responsibilities that their clients face.
