 |
|
Community-based measures fail to reduce HIV levels, new study shows
March 27, 2007Interventions that target individuals with a high risk of contracting HIV have a negligible impact on HIV transmission in the general population, according to a new study of communities in Zimbabwe, published today. The three-year study shows that community-based peer education, free condom distribution, and clinic-based STI treatment and counselling services targeted at female sex workers and their male clients had no impact on HIV incidence in the wider community.
The study shows that it was possible to reduce the incidence of HIV in men-but not the women-who were reached by the programme. However, the reduction in HIV incidence amongst these men did not have the anticipated impact on HIV incidence in the larger community.
The researchers, writing in the journal PLoS Medicine, had hoped that levels of HIV in the community as a whole could be reduced through targeting men and women who were perceived to have the riskiest sexual behaviour and reducing the incidence of HIV amongst them. They believed that this would reduce HIV incidence in the wider sexual networks where these people were thought to be key.
The programme aimed to reduce transmission through sex workers and it provided women with small interest-free loans together with training in small business management, in order to reduce their economic dependence on sex work. Recent studies show that commercial sex work centred around bars and beer halls remains a major source of HIV transmission.
The male participants benefited from the programme with a decrease in incidence of HIV-1, a reduction in reporting of unprotected sex with casual partners, and a decrease in symptoms of sexually transmitted infections. However, the study found that these benefits were not shared by the sex workers reached by the programme and there was no resultant reduction in HIV incidence for the community as a whole.
The researchers believe that their efforts to reduce incidence in female sex workers were unsuccessful largely for economic reasons. Whilst some men may have given up visiting sex workers or started to use condoms consistently, the sex workers themselves were unable to acquire alternative sources of income and continued to have unprotected sex with some of their partners-on occasions, in exchange for a larger payment.
Dr Simon Gregson, lead author of the study from the Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology at Imperial College London, said: "The results of the study were disappointing. Targeting smaller high-risk groups did not have the knock-on effect we had hoped and in addition, we weren't able to reduce the incidence of HIV in women in the way we had anticipated. We wanted to reduce women's reliance on sex work through our micro-credit scheme but this failed, partly because of the economic downturn in Zimbabwe.
"Programmes similar to the one we introduced are widely used in HIV prevention in sub-Saharan Africa. Our study shows that we probably need much larger programmes, based on skills training, to alleviate poverty and strategies that reach into the wider community to stem the epidemic,\\\
Imperial College London
The programme aimed to reduce transmission through sex workers and it provided women with small interest-free loans together with training in small business management, in order to reduce their economic dependence on sex work. Recent studies show that commercial sex work centred around bars and beer halls remains a major source of HIV transmission.
The male participants benefited from the programme with a decrease in incidence of HIV-1, a reduction in reporting of unprotected sex with casual partners, and a decrease in symptoms of sexually transmitted infections. However, the study found that these benefits were not shared by the sex workers reached by the programme and there was no resultant reduction in HIV incidence for the community as a whole.
The researchers believe that their efforts to reduce incidence in female sex workers were unsuccessful largely for economic reasons. Whilst some men may have given up visiting sex workers or started to use condoms consistently, the sex workers themselves were unable to acquire alternative sources of income and continued to have unprotected sex with some of their partners-on occasions, in exchange for a larger payment.
Dr Simon Gregson, lead author of the study from the Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology at Imperial College London, said: "The results of the study were disappointing. Targeting smaller high-risk groups did not have the knock-on effect we had hoped and in addition, we weren't able to reduce the incidence of HIV in women in the way we had anticipated. We wanted to reduce women's reliance on sex work through our micro-credit scheme but this failed, partly because of the economic downturn in Zimbabwe.
"Programmes similar to the one we introduced are widely used in HIV prevention in sub-Saharan Africa. Our study shows that we probably need much larger programmes, based on skills training, to alleviate poverty and strategies that reach into the wider community to stem the epidemic,\\\
Imperial College London
Zimbabwe Current Events and Zimbabwe News RSSReport finds extensive use of illicit alcohol
The consumption of illicit or noncommercial alcohol is widespread in many countries worldwide and contributes significantly to the global burden of disease, according to a new report released today by the International Center for Alcohol Policies (ICAP).
Researchers estimate lives lost due to delay in antiretroviral drug use for HIV/AIDS in South Africa
More than 330,000 lives were lost to HIV/AIDS in South Africa from 2000 and 2005 because a feasible and timely antiretroviral (ARV) treatment program was not implemented, assert researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) in a study published online by the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes (JAIDS) (http://www.jaids.com/).
Running on rocket fuel
In the world of "cut and thrust," humans try to bank money to obtain financial security, and often form cooperatives to reduce risks and increase gains.
NASA data show some African drought linked to warmer Indian Ocean
A new study, co-funded by NASA, has identified a link between a warming Indian Ocean and less rainfall in eastern and southern Africa. Computer models and observations show a decline in rainfall, with implications for the region's food security.
Happiness is rising around the world: U-M study
People in most countries around the world are happier these days, according to newly released data from the World Values Survey based at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research.
Despite Frustrations, Americans Are Pretty Darned Happy
We're number 16 ... in world happiness. Feel the joy.
X-rays Often Repeated for Patients in Developing Countries
Patients in developing countries often need to have X-ray examinations repeated so that doctors have the image quality they need for useful medical diagnosis, the IAEA is learning. The findings come from a survey involving thousands of patients in 45 hospitals and 12 countries of Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe.
HIV's impact in Zimbabwe explored in new research
The impact of HIV in Zimbabwe since the early 1980s is explored in new research published this week in the journal PNAS.
Trial examines diaphragm use in preventing HIV in women
A clinical trial involving 5,045 women in South Africa and Zimbabwe found no statistical difference in the rate of new HIV infections in the two study arms: those who received a diaphragm plus lubricant along with male condoms for their partners and those who only received male condoms.
Satellite images show destroyed and threatened villages in Darfur
A pioneering AAAS program that provides technical expertise to human rights groups is helping Amnesty International USA with a new online effort to monitor threatened settlements in the war-torn Darfur region of Sudan and provide evidence of destroyed villages.
More Zimbabwe Current Events and Zimbabwe News Articles
 | Children from Australia to Zimbabwe: A Photographic Journey Around the World by Maya Ajmera, Anna Rhesa Versola, Global Fund For Children (Organization) Vibrant color photographs portray positive images of children that help foster a sense of global citizenship. With an abundance of information about cultures, languages, and the environment, this fascinating journey around the world will inspire both young and old... |
 | Afghanistan to Zimbabwe: Country Facts That Helped Me Win the National Geographic Bee by Andrew Wojtanik |
 | Zimbabwe In Pictures (Visual Geography. Second Series) by Francesca Di Piazza, Francesca Di Piazza |
 | Bitter Harvest: Zimbabwe and the Aftermath of its Independence by Ian Smith For more than a decade, Ian Smith served as Rhodesia's Prime Minister during the era of white minority rule. Following his death in 2007, he is still a man with the ability to excite powerful emotions. To some he is a leader whose formidable integrity led him into head-to-head confrontation with the Labor government of Britain in the 1960s. To others he is a demon best known for stating "I don't... |
 | Suffering for Territory: Race, Place, and Power in Zimbabwe by Donald Moore Since 2000, black squatters have forcibly occupied white farms across Zimbabwe, reigniting questions of racialized dispossession, land rights, and legacies of liberation. Donald S. Moore probes these contentious politics by analyzing fierce disputes over territory, sovereignty, and subjection in the country’s eastern highlands. He focuses on poor farmers in Kaerezi who endured colonial... |
 | Labels for Locals: What to Call People from Abilene to Zimbabwe by Paul Dickson In our globally interconnected age, misnaming where someone is from or the cultural group to which they belong often constitutes more than a harmless social gaffe. Labels for Locals provides guidance on the preferred, and sometimes disdained, names for selected locales, cities, regions, countries, and ethnic groups worldwide.... |
 | House of Stone: The True Story of a Family Divided in War-Torn Zimbabwe by Christina Lamb Blue mountains, golden fields, gin and tonics on the terrace--once it had seemed the most idyllic place on earth. But by August 2002, Marondera, in eastern Zimbabwe, had been turned into a bloody battleground, the center of a violent campaign. One bright morning, Nigel Hough, one of the few remaining white farmers, received the news he had been dreading. A crowd of war veterans was at his gates,... |
 | Through the Darkness: A Life in Zimbabwe by Judith Garfield Todd Selected as one of The Economists Best Books of 2007! For more than three decades, Judith Todd has been at loggerheads with successive governments of Zimbabwe. After being jailed and then exiled by Ian Smith's regime, she returned to her country in 1980 and soon realised that, far from being the solution to Zimbabwe's ills, Robert Mugabe and Zanu (PF) were increasingly becoming the problem. ... |
 | Where We Have Hope: A Memoir of Zimbabwe by Andrew Meldrum Where We Have Hope is the gripping memoir of a young American journalist. In 1980, Andrew Meldrum arrived in a Zimbabwe flush with new independence, and he fell in love with the country and its optimism. But over the twenty years he lived there, Meldrum watched as President Robert Mugabe consolidated power and the government evolved into despotism. In May 2003, Meldrum, the last foreign... |
 | African Laughter: Four Visits to Zimbabwe by Doris Lessing A highly personal story of the eminent British writer returning to her African roots that is "brilliant . . . [and] captures the contradictions of a young country."--New York Times Book... |
| © 2008 BrightSurf.com |