Evidence for the importance of community involvement: Implications for initiatives to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV

This paper offers lessons learned from a literature review of community involvement in biomedical and other technologies that can guide appropriate and effective introduction of services for prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV. A companion paper discusses research in Botswana and Zambia that showed gaps in community knowledge about HIV transmission, particularly from mother to child, and yielded insights into community perspectives about barriers to using voluntary counseling and testing services; stigma and fear associated with HIV; traditional norms on breastfeeding; and the role of family and community members in women’s decisions to participate in programs to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV. A separate publication (“Community involvement in the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV: Insights and recommendations”) offers recommendations for community involvement strategies. Placed within the framework of community involvement, an intervention that addresses mother-to-child transmission of HIV offers an enormous opportunity to improve HIV prevention and care. Successful interventions can influence how AIDS is perceived by the community, reduce stigma, and have an effect beyond the immediate prevention of perinatal transmission

HIV/AIDS Prevention Guidance for Reproductive Health Professionals in Developing-Country Settings

While the integration of information, technologies, and services to respond to HIV/AIDS may seem closely related, there are a variety of issues that continue to create obstacles to integration. Among these are the stigmatizing nature of HIV infection and AIDS and discrimination faced by those who are infected or perceived to be infected; sexual practices and identities that remain socially unacceptable; gender roles and relations that make it difficult for women and men to access information, services, and technologies on HIV prevention; reluctance to recognize the special needs of young people; and barriers to service delivery created by broader economic, social, cultural, and political factors. Of concern to reproductive health service providers are the burdens associated with providing additional services and resources needed for facilities, technologies, treatment options, and comprehensive training. This document provides an overview of the issues, challenges, and opportunities around integrating a broad range of HIV/AIDS interventions into existing reproductive and sexual health programs and services, and includes examples of successful interventions

Enabling positive change: Progress and setbacks in HIV and sexual and reproductive health and rights

At a point in history when the future of sexual and reproductive health including HIV looks particularly uncertain, it is helpful to recognise that many of the challenges currently faced are neither new nor insurmountable. Reflecting on past achievements and lessons learned helps us to have confidence that positive change is feasible. This paper reflects on some of the changes observed in countries like India and Mozambique and identifies a range of factors which need to coalesce to enable these developments, along with specific contextual factors. It is the combination of these influences rather than any one of them alone that brought about the change in the three instances described – fostering a positive political response to HIV in its early years in India; bringing about policy reform on abortion in Mozambique; and increasing contraceptive prevalence and age at marriage in some districts in Bihar, India. Change is always fragile and susceptible to setbacks, but change-seekers can learn in the process and gain renewed hope that progress can and often does take place if they persevere

Coming to terms with complexity: a call to action for HIV prevention.

A quarter of a century of AIDS responses has created a huge body of knowledge about HIV transmission and how to prevent it, yet every day, around the world, nearly 7000 people become infected with the virus. Although HIV prevention is complex, it ought not to be mystifying. Local and national achievements in curbing the epidemic have been myriad, and have created a body of evidence about what works, but these successful approaches have not yet been fully applied. Essential programmes and services have not had sufficient coverage; they have often lacked the funding to be applied with sufficient quality and intensity. Action and funding have not necessarily been directed to where the epidemic is or to what drives it. Few programmes address vulnerability to HIV and structural determinants of the epidemic. A prevention constituency has not been adequately mobilised to stimulate the demand for HIV prevention. Confident and unified leadership has not emerged to assert what is needed in HIV prevention and how to overcome the political, sociocultural, and logistic barriers in getting there. We discuss the combination of solutions which are needed to intensify HIV prevention, using the existing body of evidence and the lessons from our successes and failures in HIV prevention

HIV prevention 6 - Coming to terms with complexity: a call to action for HIV prevention. Lancet 2008; 372(9641

A quarter of a century of AIDS responses has created a huge body of knowledge about HIV transmission and how to prevent it, yet every day, around the world, nearly 7000 people become infected with the virus. Although HIV prevention is complex, it ought not to be mystifying. Local and national achievements in curbing the epidemic have been myriad, and have created a body of evidence about what works, but these successful approaches have not yet been fully applied. Essential programmes and services have not had suffi cient coverage; they have often lacked the funding to be applied with suffi cient quality and intensity. Action and funding have not necessarily been directed to where the epidemic is or to what drives it. Few programmes address vulnerability to HIV and structural determinants of the epidemic. A prevention constituency has not been adequately mobilised to stimulate the demand for HIV prevention. Confi dent and unifi ed leadership has not emerged to assert what is needed in HIV prevention and how to overcome the political, sociocultural, and logistic barriers in getting there. We discuss the combination of solutions which are needed to intensify HIV prevention, using the existing body of evidence and the lessons from our successes and failures in HIV prevention

The current state of play of research on the social, political and legal dimensions of HIV

This paper offers a critical overview of social science research presented at the 2014 International AIDS Conference in Melbourne, Australia. In an era of major biomedical advance, the political nature of HIV remains of fundamental importance. No new development can be rolled out successfully without taking into account its social and political context, and consequences. Four main themes ran throughout the conference track on social and political research, law, policy and human rights: first, the importance of work with socially vulnerable groups, now increasingly referred to as "key populations"; second, continued recognition that actions and programs need to be tailored locally and contextually; third, the need for an urgent response to a rapidly growing epidemic of HIV among young people; and fourth, the negative effects of the growing criminalization of minority sexualities and people living with HIV. Lack of stress on human rights and community participation is resulting in poorer policy globally. A new research agenda is needed to respond to these challenges