9 research outputs found
Blood and blood : anti-retroviral therapy, masculinity, and redemption among adolescent boys in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa
Adolescents living with perinatally acquired HIV are among the first generation in South Africa to grow up with anti-retroviral therapy and democratic freedoms. In this article, we explore the biosocial lives of adolescent boys and young men living with HIV in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. We conducted qualitative research with 36 adolescent boys and young men in 2016â2018, including life history narratives, semi-structured interviews, and analysis of health facility files.Evidence for HIV Prevention in Southern Africa (EHPSA), the South African National Research Foundation (NRF) Innovation scheme for doctoral student funding, the University of Cape Town AIDS and Society Research Unit (ASRU), the South African Social Science and HIV (SASH) Programme, an initiative funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), the U.K. Research and Innovation Global Challenges Research Fund Accelerating Achievement for Africa's Adolescents Hub, the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health and the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC. Additional Data collection support was provided by the Mzantsi Wakho Study, funded by the Nuffield Foundation; Janssen Pharmaceutica N.V., part of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson; the Regional Inter-Agency Task Team for Children Affected by AIDSâ Eastern and Southern Africa (RIATT-ESA); UNICEF Eastern and Southern Africa Office (UNICEF-ESARO); the International AIDS Society through the CIPHER grant; Claude Leon Foundation; the Leverhulme Trust; the Oak Foundation; [OFIL-20- 057]/GCRF âAccelerating Violence Prevention in Africaâ; the University of Oxford's ESRC Impact Acceleration Account; and the John Fell Fund.https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/15481387hj2023Centre for Sexualities, AIDS and Gender (CSA&G)Historical and Heritage Studie
Resourcing resilience: Social protection for HIV prevention amongst children and adolescents in Eastern and Southern Africa
Adolescents are the only age group with growing AIDS-related morbidity and mortality in Eastern and Southern
Africa, making HIV prevention research among this population an urgent priority. Structural deprivations are key
drivers of adolescent HIV infection in this region. Biomedical interventions must be combined with behavioural
and social interventions to alleviate the socio-structural determinants of HIV infection. There is growing evidence
that social protection has the potential to reduce the risk of HIV infection among children and adolescents.
This research combined expert consultations with a rigorous review of academic and policy literature on the
effectiveness of social protection for HIV prevention among children and adolescents, including prevention for
those already HIV-positive. The study had three goals: (i) assess the evidence on the effectiveness of social
protection for HIV prevention, (ii) consider key challenges to implementing social protection programmes
that promote HIV prevention, and (iii) identify critical research gaps in social protection and HIV prevention, in
Eastern and Southern Africa. Causal pathways of inequality, poverty, gender and HIV risk require flexible and
responsive social protection mechanisms. Results confirmed that HIV-inclusive child- and adolescent-sensitive
social protection has the potential to interrupt risk pathways to HIV infection and foster resilience. In particular,
empirical evidence (literature and expert feedback) detailed the effectiveness of combination social protection
particularly cash/in-kind components combined with âcareâ and âcapabilityâ among children and adolescents.
Social protection programmes should be dynamic and flexible, and consider age, gender, HIV-related stigma, and
context, including cultural norms, which offer opportunities to improve programmatic coverage, reach and uptake.
Effective HIV prevention also requires integrated social protection policies, developed through strong national
government ownership and leadership. Future research should explore which combinations of social protection
work for sub-groups of children and adolescents, particularly those living with HIV
Social protection:Potential for improving HIV outcomes among adolescents
Introduction Advances in biomedical technologies provide potential for adolescent HIV prevention and HIVâpositive survival. The UNAIDS 90â90â90 treatment targets provide a new roadmap for ending the HIV epidemic, principally through antiretroviral treatment, HIV testing and viral suppression among people with HIV. However, while imperative, HIV treatment and testing will not be sufficient to address the epidemic among adolescents in Southern and Eastern Africa. In particular, use of condoms and adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) remain haphazard, with evidence that social and structural deprivation is negatively impacting adolescentsâ capacity to protect themselves and others. This paper examines the evidence for and potential of interventions addressing these structural deprivations. Discussion New evidence is emerging around social protection interventions, including cash transfers, parenting support and educational support (âcash, care and classroomâ). These interventions have the potential to reduce the social and economic drivers of HIV risk, improve utilization of prevention technologies and improve adherence to ART for adolescent populations in the hyperâendemic settings of Southern and Eastern Africa. Studies show that the integration of social and economic interventions has high acceptability and reach and that it holds powerful potential for improved HIV, health and development outcomes. Conclusions Social protection is a largely untapped means of reducing HIVârisk behaviours and increasing uptake of and adherence to biomedical prevention and treatment technologies. There is now sufficient evidence to include social protection programming as a key strategy not only to mitigate the negative impacts of the HIV epidemic among families, but also to contribute to HIV prevention among adolescents and potentially to remove social and economic barriers to accessing treatment. We urge a further research and programming agenda: to actively combine programmes that increase availability of biomedical solutions with social protection policies that can boost their utilization.</p
Online teaching in response to student protests and campus shutdowns: academicsâ perspectives
Practical solutions for including Sex As a Biological Variable (SABV) in preclinical neuropsychopharmacological research.
Recently, many funding agencies have released guidelines on the importance of considering sex as a biological variable (SABV) as an experimental factor, aiming to address sex differences and avoid possible sex biases to enhance the reproducibility and translational relevance of preclinical research. In neuroscience and pharmacology, the female sex is often omitted from experimental designs, with researchers generalizing male-driven outcomes to both sexes, risking a biased or limited understanding of disease mechanisms and thus potentially ineffective therapeutics. Herein, we describe key methodological aspects that should be considered when sex is factored into in vitro and in vivo experiments and provide practical knowledge for researchers to incorporate SABV into preclinical research. Both age and sex significantly influence biological and behavioral processes due to critical changes at different timepoints of development for males and females and due to hormonal fluctuations across the rodent lifespan. We show that including both sexes does not require larger sample sizes, and even if sex is included as an independent variable in the study design, a moderate increase in sample size is sufficient. Moreover, the importance of tracking hormone levels in both sexes and the differentiation between sex differences and sex-related strategy in behaviors are explained. Finally, the lack of robust data on how biological sex influences the pharmacokinetic (PK), pharmacodynamic (PD), or toxicological effects of various preclinically administered drugs to animals due to the exclusion of female animals is discussed, and methodological strategies to enhance the rigor and translational relevance of preclinical research are proposed
School, Supervision and Adolescent-Sensitive Clinic Care: Combination Social Protection and Reduced Unprotected Sex Among HIV-Positive Adolescents in South Africa
© 2016 The Author(s). Social protection can reduce HIV-risk behavior in general adolescent populations, but evidence among HIV-positive adolescents is limited. This study quantitatively tests whether social protection is associated with reduced unprotected sex among 1060 ART-eligible adolescents from 53 government facilities in South Africa. Potential social protection included nine âcash/cash-in-kindâ and âcareâ provisions. Analyses tested interactive/additive effects using logistic regressions and marginal effects models, controlling for covariates. 18 % of all HIV-positive adolescents and 28 % of girls reported unprotected sex. Lower rates of unprotected sex were associated with access to school (OR 0.52 95 % CI 0.33â0.82 p = 0.005), parental supervision (OR 0.54 95 % CI 0.33â0.90 p = 0.019), and adolescent-sensitive clinic care (OR 0.43 95 % CI 0.25â0.73 p = 0.002). Gender moderated the effect of adolescent-sensitive clinic care. Combination social protection had additive effects amongst girls: without any provisions 49 % reported unprotected sex; with 1â2 provisions 13â38 %; and with all provisions 9 %. Combination social protection has the potential to promote safer sex among HIV-positive adolescents, particularly girls