ISSUE N° 186 - Social science perspectives on HIV/AIDS, December 2005

HIV/AIDS has now been with us for more than twenty years. The
epidemic is one of the worst health and development crises in modern
history. The long incubation period and the stigma attached to
infection have made it particularly difficult to control, and its
spread hard to predict. Today, the spread of HIV/AIDS to the
Caribbean, India, China and the former Soviet Union countries makes
it clear that the epidemic is worldwide. However, HIV/AIDS is also
highly context-related. While today it is spread overwhelmingly by
unprotected sex, it is compounded by conditions of poverty,
deprivation and violence. Broad provision of treatment in poor
countries is now increasingly becoming a possibility, but the
implications of beginning life-long treatment with international
development assistance for large numbers of people have yet to be
evaluated. Thus, the epidemic and its consequences are at the crux
of many of the concerns of social scientists, touching on ethics,
governance, social marketing, development and culture, for example.

In this regard, the current issue of the ISSJ aims to bring to the
fore recent and critical research findings that should inform
education, health, social, culture, economic and research policies
in order to meet the development challenge posed by HIV/AIDS.

An underlying concern will be to address the governance issues that
countries and regional integration agreements are facing and will
increasingly face as the epidemic spreads and treatment and care
generate new demands on social service providers, public
administration procedures and rules, legal frameworks and
agreements, labor relations, fiscal law. etc.

In line with the ISSJ's multi-disciplinary perspective, the papers
can focus on conceptual analyses, empirical investigations, case
studies or comparative studies. They may also discuss the
contributions of social research methods to policy and programme
implementation. The interest of these methodological contributions
is to find innovative approaches that can strengthen the evidence
base of public policies and hence improve the quality, efficiency
and efficacy of public services being provided to the affected and
infected.

Against this background, the editor is particularly interested in
receiving papers under the following inter-linked themes.

Rights:
The personal and societal impact of HIV/AIDS is reduced, when
people, women and men alike, are able to fully enjoy their rights to
education, information, non-discrimination. Today, there is a clear
understanding that an effective response to HIV/AIDS should be based
on respect for all civil, cultural, economic, political, and social
rights as well as the right to development in order to reduce
vulnerability to HIV/AIDS; to lessen the adverse impact on those
infected and affected; and to empower individuals and communities to
respond to the epidemic. Particularly, girls and young women are
often deprived of their rights and exposed to various forms of
gender-based violence that increases their vulnerability to
HIV/AIDS. In this context, the papers should address the governance
issues and the policy implications of the following aspects: How is
the pandemic, its spread and containment, linked to the promotion,
protection and fulfilment of civil, political, social, economic and
cultural rights? How does the absence or violation of these rights
increase women's and men's vulnerability to HIV/AIDS and their
chances of accessing appropriate treatment, care and support? What
are the gender-related factors that explain the differential
experiences of women and men in this respect? What can be done to
address the discrimination women and men living with HIV/AIDS are
facing? Other issues to be addressed include mandatory HIV testing;
restrictions on international travel; barriers to employment and
housing, access to education, medical care, or health insurance,
etc.

Education:
There is a strong correlation between education and HIV/AIDS:
HIV/AIDS hampers the expansion of educational opportunities, access
and quality and widens already existing inequalities in education;
and better education in general, and education on HIV/AIDS
specifically, are effective means against the epidemic. Moreover,
education is for the moment the principal response available to slow
the spread of the epidemic: failing a vaccine or a cure, behavioral
change is essential for prevention. Papers should examine the
practical consequences of what is known about HIV/AIDS and
education: how is behavioral change effected through education,
broadly described? How should resource-poor governments and
institutions invest in prevention? How can educational efforts reach
the hardest-to-reach (and most vulnerable) and how have they done
so? How is the impact of HIV/AIDS on education best mitigated? What
can be done to protect recent gains towards achieving the goals
of `Education for All' from the impact of HIV/AIDS? How can schools
and educational systems cope with the impact of HIV/AIDS?

Governance:
In the last few years there has been a notable shift in HIV/AIDS
policies and programming, taking a more comprehensive approach that
includes care and support, and most recently antiretroviral
treatment, alongside prevention efforts. Experience suggests this
more holistic response will result in greater impact as a result of
the synergy gained from meeting the wider set of individual and
community needs. As governments, NGOs, the private sector and other
parts of civil society increasingly adopt a more comprehensive
approach that includes care and support as well as treatment access,
questions around governance, decision-making and accountability have
become more critical than ever. The papers should address the issues
from the following angles: How will policy-makers determine who gets
access to very limited ARV treatment programmes? Given extremely
limited resources and capacities, how and what is the appropriate
balance between prevention, care and support, treatment, and other
health and education priorities? Efforts to streamline coordination
and reduce transaction costs, through for example the three ones
(one national strategy, one national coordination mechanism, and one
monitoring and reporting system), raise important questions about
the processes of governance.

Alexandra Draxler
E-mail: [a.draxler@...]

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