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  • Title: Risk and vulnerability reduction in the HIV / AIDS pandemic.
    Author: Tarantola D.
    Journal: Curr Issues Public Health; 1995 Aug; 1(4):176-9. PubMed ID: 12290597.
    Abstract:
    An estimated 13.2 million men, 10 million women, and 2.7 million children worldwide have been infected with HIV since the beginning of the pandemic, and more than 10,000 people daily acquire HIV infection. 67% and 19% of these infections have occurred in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia, respectively. Even though the annual number of new HIV infections appears to have reached a plateau in Western Europe and the Caribbean and may be approaching one in sub-Saharan Africa, and the rise of new infection seems to be on the decline in North America, Oceania, and the southeastern Mediterranean, the HIV/AIDS pandemic has not been controlled anywhere in the world and its major impact has yet to come. Prevention activities undertaken by individuals, communities, nations, and international bodies have shown that the spread of HIV can be effectively reduced. Public health interventions against HIV/AIDS emphasize risk reduction strategies through the provision of HIV/AIDS-related information about safe behavior and the promotion of prevention methods. Exclusive reliance upon risk reduction strategies, however, fails to address the contextual issues in which the pandemic is rooted. In order to significantly affect the pandemic, short-term risk reduction interventions must be expanded considerably, adapted to local needs, and replicated worldwide. An expanded response to the pandemic also calls for medium- and long-term risk reduction interventions, including the linking of HIV/AIDS prevention, care, and support work with other actions in the health and social sector, and the remodeling of services to respond more effectively to growing needs. Until recently, such interventions have been neglected or misconstrued as the process of spreading thinly and irresponsibly HIV/AIDS actions within health and social programs. The sustainability and eventual success of HIV prevention will depend upon the capacity of health systems to integrate HIV/AIDS-related activities with other initiatives, while retaining the ability to track the epidemic and account for what is done about it. The influence of contextual factors on vulnerability to HIV/AIDS is discussed.
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