 |
|
Hope: An overlooked tool in the battle against HIV/AIDS
August 11, 2008The links between HIV transmission and the degree to which people are able to adopt realistic plans to achieve future projects, in other words, hope, have been overlooked in policies to tackle HIV/AIDS. New research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) argues that hope is a powerful tool in the battle to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Almost 30 years into the AIDS epidemic a medical vaccine for the disease remains elusive. Efforts to control the spread of HIV have been fairly successful in Western countries but have met little success in Africa. For example, life expectancy at birth is now estimated to be 36 years in Botswana, instead of 71 years without AIDS. It is expected to drop towards 30 within the next ten years.
ESRC Professorial Fellow, Tony Barnett, from the London School of Economics, argues: "Current policies to tackle HIV/AIDS in Africa emphasise individual behaviour such as the ABC approach to prevention: Abstain, Be faithful, Condomise. However, these measures require that people have hope for the future and goals to aim for. And if wider economic and social circumstances are so poor that people lack hope for the future, then these current policies will have limited success."
People with hope for the future are less likely to engage in activities in the present that put them at risk of illness in the future. Those without hope for the future, by contrast, place a low value on the future. For example, men who lack hope for the future may be unwilling to surrender immediate pleasure in return for a far-off future benefit by wearing a condom.
Increasing evidence shows that policies to combat AIDS that focus exclusively on individual behaviour are flawed if they dissociate behavioural change from the social, economic and cultural contexts. Security, stability, expectations of seeing the birth of grandchildren and their coming to adulthood, expectations of seeing a small enterprise grow bigger or a tree crop plantation come to maturity - these are all signs and indicators of hope that can have vital impacts on decisions and behaviours.
In contrast HIV/AIDS can destroy hope, resulting in vicious spirals that damage societies and lead to further HIV infections. When life prospects are so poor, people have little incentive to save for the future and to educate children. AIDS has also led to a growing number of orphans in Africa. Without financial, educational and emotional support for the future, a growing number of young people in Africa are less prepared for life and more vulnerable to HIV/AIDS.
"Hope is quite straightforward to measure via questionnaires and surveys can help to identify high risk environments," concludes Professor Barnett. "Although there is not a great deal of experience in developing programmes to increase hope, policies such as cash support for children, microfinance for small businesses, women's education, reduced discriminations against sexual minorities and health system reform will improve the wider environment. And with more to live for, interventions to encourage individuals to change their behaviour are more likely to succeed."
Economic & Social Research Council
People with hope for the future are less likely to engage in activities in the present that put them at risk of illness in the future. Those without hope for the future, by contrast, place a low value on the future. For example, men who lack hope for the future may be unwilling to surrender immediate pleasure in return for a far-off future benefit by wearing a condom.
Increasing evidence shows that policies to combat AIDS that focus exclusively on individual behaviour are flawed if they dissociate behavioural change from the social, economic and cultural contexts. Security, stability, expectations of seeing the birth of grandchildren and their coming to adulthood, expectations of seeing a small enterprise grow bigger or a tree crop plantation come to maturity - these are all signs and indicators of hope that can have vital impacts on decisions and behaviours.
In contrast HIV/AIDS can destroy hope, resulting in vicious spirals that damage societies and lead to further HIV infections. When life prospects are so poor, people have little incentive to save for the future and to educate children. AIDS has also led to a growing number of orphans in Africa. Without financial, educational and emotional support for the future, a growing number of young people in Africa are less prepared for life and more vulnerable to HIV/AIDS.
"Hope is quite straightforward to measure via questionnaires and surveys can help to identify high risk environments," concludes Professor Barnett. "Although there is not a great deal of experience in developing programmes to increase hope, policies such as cash support for children, microfinance for small businesses, women's education, reduced discriminations against sexual minorities and health system reform will improve the wider environment. And with more to live for, interventions to encourage individuals to change their behaviour are more likely to succeed."
Economic & Social Research Council
Hiv/aids Current Events and Hiv/aids News RSSFirst Holistic Guide to Primate Disease Covers Critical Gap in Global Health
Why are so many infectious diseases jumping from animals to humans? Why do we have so little capacity to predict epidemics, or avoid them?
Applying 'supply and demand' business principles to treat infectious diseases worldwide
Treating infectious diseases while meeting escalating costs to do so continues to pose worldwide challenges, with one of the main issues being the ability to provide an adequate supply of drugs to treat infectious diseases.
T cell-based HIV vaccine candidate demonstrates positive results
The question of whether or not to continue to pursue the development of T-cell-based HIV-1 vaccines has been a source of controversy following last year's widely publicized failure of the field's most promising candidate, a vaccine developed by Merck known as V520.
New study shows that important gene controls the ability of the thymus to produce disease-fighting T-cells after an organism's birth
New research, just published by researchers from the University of Georgia, provides the first evidence that a key gene may be crucial to maintaining the production of the thymus and its disease-fighting T-cells after an animal's birth.
New HIV-reduction initiative takes to the fields
Education has found its way onto the soccer fields of North Carolina - in the form of a social experiment that may have all the right ingredients to change the direction of Latino health in the United States.
Rapid HIV testing in the ER boosts diagnoses, screening
One in every 50 people screened for a suspected sexually transmitted infection (STI) in the Emergency Department at Henry Ford Hospital was found to be infected with HIV using a rapid blood sample screening test.
Markers of inflammation and blood-clotting tied to hazards of intermittent HIV treatment
Episodic treatment of HIV/AIDS with antiretroviral drugs increases the overall risk of death when compared with continuous antiretroviral treatment (ART), but the reasons why have been unknown.
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/).
Efavirenz-Based Initial Therapies Associated with Better Outcomes in HIV-Infected Adults
A study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that HIV-infected patients taking the antiretroviral drug efavirenz were more likely to adhere to treatment and less likely to experience virologic failure and death compared to patients taking nevirapine.
New research on family-based HIV prevention presented at annual NIH conference
Researchers from the Bradley Hasbro Children's Research Center (BHCRC) presented exciting new research today at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Annual International Research Conference on the Role of Families in Preventing and Adapting to HIV/AIDS.
More Hiv/aids Current Events and Hiv/aids News Articles
 | 100 Questions and Answers About HIV and AIDS by Joel Gallant |
 | The Cure For HIV / AIDS by Hulda, R. Clark Including new research and findings showing what the true causes of HIV & AIDS are and lead directly to their cure! 53 CURED Cases The First Year Cure, not treatment, is the subject of this book. In 1991 Dr Clark discovered the source of HIV. Once the source became clear the cure became obvious. but would it work? After curing 53 cases in a row, all who used this method, Dr Clark could wait no... |
 | HIV/AIDS: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) by Alan Whiteside HIV/AIDS is without doubt the worst epidemic to hit humankind since the Black Death. As of 2004 an estimated 40 million people were living with the disease, and about 20 million had died. Despite rapid scientific advances there is still no cure and the drugs are expensive and toxic. In the developing world, especially in parts of Africa, life expectancy has plummeted to below 35 years, causing... |
 | HIV/AIDS and Society in South Africa We have not yet unravelled how HIV/AIDS is changing South Africa's social fabric, despite the fact that over 5 million South Africans are living with the virus. Do we know how HIV/AIDS may affect different sectors of society, possibly altering the course set for development? Is it possible that the way in which the epidemic is being fought - through health and human rights activism - is adjusting... |
 | Global HIV/AIDS Medicine HIV/AIDS management poses many different challenges around the world, and the therapies available in the West are often not economically feasible in developing countries. This new book is the first to address the myriad of clinical difficulties faced by health practitioners worldwide in managing HIV/AIDS. Edited by the same authorities responsible for the highly respected reference "The Medical... |
 | The Guide to Living with HIV Infection: Developed at the Johns Hopkins AIDS Clinic (A Johns Hopkins Press Health Book) by John G. Bartlett, Ann K. Finkbeiner The Guide to Living with HIV Infection is the most complete source of medical, emotional, social, and practical advice available for those infected with HIV and their loved ones. Developed at the Johns Hopkins AIDS Clinic, the guide provides essential information for making decisions about treatment and testing in a world transformed by new research and pharmacotherapy.In this thoroughly updated... |
 | The First Year: HIV: An Essential Guide for the Newly Diagnosed (First Year, The) by Brett Grodeck This supportive resource explores the next generation of HIV/AIDS drugs and also includes new research on HIV and crystal meth, as well as new insights for the hardest hit population — African... |
 | The Origin, Persistence and Failings of HIV/AIDS Theory by Henry H. Bauer Thanks to enormous funding for educational programs, the whole world "knows" that HIV causes AIDS. But is what we know compatible with the facts? This book challenges the conventional wisdom on this issue. Collating and analyzing, for the first time, the results of more than two decades of HIV testing, it reveals that the common assumptions about HIV and AIDS are incompatible with the published... |
 | Macroeconomics of HIV/Aids This publication marks World AIDS Day, December 1, 2004 and brings together contributions by experts from a variety of international organizations and other institutions who are involved in formulating and implementing policy responses to the epidemic or are dealing with its social and economic consequences. It includes 10 original papers by various authors, on topics from HIV/AIDS in Botswana,... |
 | AIDS and HIV in Perspective: A Guide to Understanding the Virus and Its Consequences by Barry D. Schoub This new edition of Dr. Schoub's informative and lucid account brings the reader up to date on the current understanding of the natural history of HIV infection, new approaches to management of infection and disease, and improvements in diagnostic capabilities. This book, aimed at the general reader, bridges the gap between specialist science literature and basic educational material available... |
| © 2008 BrightSurf.com |