Browsing by Subject "AIDS (Disease)"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Alternative explanations about HIV and AIDS: re-examining distrust among young adults in Cape Town, South Africa
    (2014-07-31) Rubincam, Clara
    Alternative beliefs about HIV – such as the man-made origins of the virus or the existence of a cure – can undermine trust in and engagement with HIV prevention and treatment initiatives. It is therefore crucial to study the reasons why these beliefs are plausible to some individuals, and how we might better address them in future prevention and treatment campaigns. This study contributes to understanding these beliefs by examining the explanations provided by African respondents in Khayelitsha Township for the plausibility of alternative beliefs about HIV and AIDS. Drawn from a sub-selection of over 2900 respondents to the Cape Area Panel Study, ten focus group discussions (n=47) were held with African men and women from the township of Khayelitsha. Previous studies maintain that the experience of apartheid, of former President Mbeki’s AIDS denialism, and of the unsettling transformations of globalisation have negatively influenced the South African public’s trust in biomedical claims. This paper argues that in addition to these explanations, individuals express distrust about HIV science because certain aspects of these scientific explanations do not ‘add-up’, particularly when considered in light of their everyday observations and experiences. These disjunctures in information do not simply reflect a lack of HIV knowledge or rejection of scientific principles. Rather, in drawing on past and present experiences, individuals demonstrate their commitment to “street-level epistemologies of trust”, an informal manner of empirically engaging with science’s rationale. HIV prevention campaigns should draw on experiential aspects of HIV and AIDS to lend credibility to scientific claims and recognize that some doubts about science are a form of skeptical engagement rather than an outright rejection.
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    Civil society and the state in Uganda’s AIDS response
    (2014-07-06) Grebe, Eduard
    This paper investigates state-civil society relations in the Ugandan AIDS response through a critical exploration of the history of Uganda’s ‘multi-sectoral’ and ‘partnership’ approaches, particularly as it pertains to The AIDS Support Organisation (TASO). It finds that the Ugandan government’s reputation for successful prevention campaigns is not necessarily deserved, and that the effectiveness of civil society is limited by an authoritarian political culture. Despite these limitations, however, state-civil society partnership did contribute to the emergence of a relatively effective coalition for action against HIV/AIDS. Donors were essential in encouraging the emergence of this coalition, but have also inadvertently undermined the emergence of strong and independent civil society voices able to hold the Ugandan state accountable.
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    Mathematical models and the fight against diseases in Africa
    (2003) Getz, Wayne M; Gouws, Eleanor; Hahne, Fritz; Kopp, P Ekkehard; Mostert, Paul; Muller, Chris; Seioghe, Cathal; Williams, Brian; Witten, Gareth
    n this age of molecular biology, The healthcare industry, politicians and the community at large are trying to find ‘magic bullet’ drugs and vaccines to conquer disease. Although smallpox has been eradicated and polio may soon be a scourge of the past, many pathogens replicate rapidly and mutate prodigiously, enabling them to evolve ways to circumvent our immune systems, as well as our drugs and vaccines. To fight and win the war against new emerging infections such as HIV/AIDS, TB and now SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome), it is important to understand the temporal and spatial dynamics of the pathogens in human and, in some cases, animal reservoirs or vector populations. It is also necessary to understand the complex web of socio-economic factors pertinent to controlling the spread of disease, so that feasible, affordable and, most importantly, effective public-health policies can be devised and implemented.
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    Peer educators’ responses to mistrust and confusion about HIV and AIDS science in Khayelitsha, South Africa
    (2014-08-30) Rubincam, Clara
    Peer educators are on the front lines of communication between sources of scientific authority about HIV and AIDS and target populations. This study focuses on a group of peer educators from the Treatment Action Campaign working in Khayelitsha, South Africa (n=20), highlighting perceptions of their treatment literacy activities and the challenges faced in these encounters. In order to maintain clients’ trust in themselves and their information about HIV, they employ various “rhetorics of persuasion”, including accurate mobilisation of biomedical facts, personal testimonies, and figurative language such as parables and metaphors. These tactics build on community members’ everyday observations and experiences and draw from peer educators’ own credibility and trustworthiness as TAC members, and as members of the community. This paper draws attention to the ways in which peer educators’ personal agency and judgement are brought to the task of peer education, as well as the implications for future programmes using treatment literacy to advocate on behalf of biomedical facts about HIV and AIDS.