24 May 2011
Registration for the Structural Drivers of HIV conference 2011 is now open
Registration for 'The Structural Drivers of HIV' conference, hosted at the University of East Anglia on 8-9 Septemver 2011, is now open. Visit the conference webpage to register online for this event and for more information including the preliminary programme of speakers. This event is organised by HIV UEA and HEARD (Health Economics and HIV/AIDS Research Division) at the University of KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. Read more
02 December 2010
UEA London lecture: the HIV epidemic in rural South West Uganda
On 25 November, Professor Janet Seeley presented a lecture on the impact of the HIV epidemic on the rural economy and livelihoods in South West Uganda as part of the SSF UEA London lecture series. More information including an audio recording of her talk is available at the SSF UEA London lecture web page. Read more
The 'Structural Drivers of HIV' conference planned for September 2011
The HIV and Development Group at UEA will be hosting a conference on the 'Structural Drivers of HIV' on Thursday 8th and Friday 9th September 2011. The conference will focus on the economic, social, policy, and organizational environments that 'structure' the context in which risk production, and vulnerability following infection, occur. These 'structural drivers' are increasingly recognised as important determinants in the transmission, prevalence and outcomes of HIV.
The conference will be structured into three main themes:
- The drivers of susceptibility to infection in different settings, and vulnerability following infection
- The drivers of differential access to ART in different settings
- The structural factors influencing people's life on ART and self management processes
For more information, click here to visit the conference website
The 2011 Conference follows on from a successful conference held at UEA in May 2009 on `Expanding anti-retroviral therapy (ART) provision in resource-limited settings: social dynamics and policy challenges’. The papers presented at this conference have been published in a special issue of the journal AIDS Care.
Click here to download the editorial 'Expanding antiretroviral therapy provision in resource-constrained settings: social processes and their policy challenges', by Steven Russell, Janet Seeley and Alan Whiteside.
13 August 2010
Janet Seeley to speak at UEA London Lecture Series
Professor Janet Seeley is to present a lecture on the impact of the HIV epidemic in South West Uganda as part of a special lecture series hosted by the Faculty of Social Sciences at UEA London this autumn. Read more
3 June 2010
ESRC grant awarded for new DEV research into living with HIV
Steven Russell and Janet Seeley have been awarded a 2 year ESRC grant for a new research project entitled “Life on antiretroviral therapy: People's adaptive coping and adjustment to living with HIV as a chronic condition in Wakiso District, Uganda”, which will examine the experiences of people living with HIV and the changes in their lives following access to life-saving antiretroviral therapy (ART).
The study aims to understand how people have responded to a new chance at life, what factors enable people to adjust to living with HIV as a chronic condition, and what treatment and support measures affect this adjustment. With this knowledge the study aims to inform ART delivery policy and practice in resource-constrained settings.
ART has restored the health and prolonged the lives of thousands of people living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa, enabling people to work again, re-engage with family and participate in social life. Adjustment to a new life on ART, and living with HIV as a chronic condition, pose significant medical, social and economic challenges for PLHIV. The proposed research uses the concepts of transition and transformation to analyse people's adjustment to living with HIV as a chronic illness. Transition involves people taking action and making changes in various aspects of their lives, actions termed 'adaptive coping' or 'self-management' strategies. Transition for some can involve a more radical adjustment that is transformative: the illness is perceived as an opportunity to learn, live a better life, with a new outlook and approach, giving one's new condition and identity meaning.
Three ART delivery sites in the Wakiso District of Uganda, with different modes of delivery and support for patients, will be the research sites and the basis of a comparative study design. The study objectives will be addressed through a quasi-experimental research design that compares people affected and unaffected by HIV and ART, and uses complementary qualitative and quantitative methods. The research will involve international collaboration between four partners: The School of International Development; the Medical Research Council (MRC), Uganda; The AIDS Support Organisation (TASO) in Uganda; and the Ministry of Health in Uganda.
`Expanding anti-retroviral therapy (ART) provision in resource-limited settings: social dynamics and policy challenges’ held At the University of East Anglia, 7th – 8th May 2009, organised by the HIV and Development Group, UEA and HEARD – a brief report
Forty researchers from UK, Uganda, Malawi, South Africa, India and Latin America gathered for two days to discuss the social and policy challenges of Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) delivery following its expansion across Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia in recent years.
This conference provided one of the first opportunities for leading international research organisations and individual researchers to share original and high quality social science research on ART delivery and its effects in resource-limited settings.
The workshop programme was composed of five themes, which structured the workshop into 5 sessions:
• Session 1: Adjustment and transformation for a new life on ART
• Session 2: Access to ART
• Session 3: ART and the changing culture of HIV and AIDS
• Session 4: Health workers and ART
• Session 5: Global policy implications
Three to four papers were presented in each session followed by least 30-45 minutes for general discussion. These sessions allowed considerable debate on general issues around research methods, directions for policy, as well as practical suggestions on research approaches and priorities, and discussion around the specific topics in each session. While reflecting on very clear benefits of the roll-out in the dramatic mortality and morbidity reductions, participants highlighted, in many different settings, concerns about the social and economic impact on the lives of those living on ART and the health workers, friends and family who provide care and support.
Everyone was very conscious of the possible impact of the global economic crisis on ART roll-out which, as the opening Chair Prof Tony Barnett observed, meant that many many more places were now `resource limited’ than when the conference had first been thought of 18 months ago. This threat means that attention to the social dynamics and policy challenges are more important than ever.
The papers from the conference are being revised for publication in a special issue of the journal AIDS Care.
We are grateful to HEARD (University of KwaZulu Natal), ODG/DEV (University of East Anglia), Boehringer Ingelheim and Merck for financial support for the conference and the production of the journal issue
Janet Seeley’s presentation on ‘Livelihood and Clinical Support in Mobile and Transient Fishing Communities’ in the session Food Security, Livelihoods and HIV: Challenges and Responses in the AIDS 2008 International Conference in Mexico, is now available as a podcast/video. Click here:
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/health_cast/hcast_index.cfm?display=detail&hc=2856
