TRIPS-Plus Free Trade Agreements and Access to Medicines

The battle over access to essential medicines revolves around the rights to issue compulsory licenses and to manufacture and export generic versions of brand name drugs to expand access. Global brand name pharmaceutical firms have sought to ration access to medicines and have used their economic and political clout to shape United States trade policy. They have succeeded in getting extremely restrictive TRIPS-Plus, and even US-Plus, intellectual property provisions into regional and bilateral free trade agreements. Asymmetrical power relations continue to shape intellectual property policy, reducing the amount of leeway that poorer and/or weaker states have in devising regulatory approaches that are most suitable for their individual needs and stages of development. While the overall trend is disturbing, some recent activities in the World Health Organization and evidence of greater unity behind health-based TRIPs flexibilities provide some grounds for cautious optimism.     

‘Just kidding. I'm white!’ knowledge,perceptions and attitudes of white and Indian male university students towards HIV prevention

This article reports the findings of a qualitative study that explored what white and Indian students at a South African university felt and knew about HIV prevention. The study explored the knowledge, perceptions and attitudes of white and Indian male students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal's (UKZN) Howard College towards medical male circumcision (MMC) as an HIV prevention procedure. The study was prompted, in part, by a cynical tweet by Justine Sacco, which implied that HIV is an exclusively black disease. More substantially, the research aimed to fill a gap in studies of non-black student demographics with regard to HIV prevention. The level of knowledge and the attitudes of white and Indian male students were explored to establish the acceptability of HIV prevention amongst these two demographics. To what extent do non-black students care about HIV prevention and prevalence amongst themselves? The prevention method selected for the study was MMC - a choice informed by UKZN's formal adoption and roll out, in 2013, of MMC as its latest HIV prevention strategy for students and staff. The study, which sampled 40 students, was rooted in the Health Belief Model, which explains health behaviour change in terms of barriers, benefits and cues to action, as well as the Social Ecology Model, which recognises the interwoven relationship between individuals and their greater environment. A qualitative, interpretive, exploratory research design was employed. Data were collected using semi-structured interview questions, and analysed thematically. The findings suggest a relatively widespread perception that white and Indian students are not at risk of HIV, demonstrating that the association of HIV with a specific race is both a sad fact and a sign of enduring prejudice and stigma.     

Who benefits from demand‐driven distribution of HIV/AIDS services? An analysis of the emerging CBO sector in Malawi

Community‐based organisations (CBOs) play a key role in Malawi's multi‐sector programme for responding to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. In this programme they are funded in a demand‐driven manner—which means that only those areas that apply for funds to CBO services are blessed with programme benefits. This paper argues that this funding mechanism is not conducive to either distributing CBO services to areas most in need or enhancing downward accountability. Because areas most in need of services generally also lacked the capacity to attract project funding, the programme did not reach them. Instead, it tended to reach those areas with the greatest capacity to attract funding, though not necessarily the greatest need for it. Furthermore, those CBOs that were funded were unable to facilitate collective action in their communities because of elite capture of decision making. The programme, however, was relatively responsive to the communities' thematic demands. Thus, all in all, the elites were relatively more successful in representing the communities' wishes than in caring for all geographical areas in their constituencies. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

《云南省公安民警预防HIV／AIDS教育及对高危人群管理的能力建设》项目预调查报告

针对目前公安民警普遍缺乏艾滋病防范知识的情况 ,为适应公安工作的实际需要 ,减少艾滋病的发展蔓延及加强对高危人群流动的管理工作 ,有必要对公安民警加强HIV/AIDS预防教育 ,以提高民警的自我保护能力及对高危人群的管理水平 ,我校与省公安厅、省教育厅、省卫生医疗机构合作 ,向国家项目办联合申报了《云南省公安民警预防HIV/AIDS教育及对高危人群管理的能力建设》科研项目 ,并获批准。依据来自本预调查报告。     

Positions on sexual and reproductive rights in Muslim-majority countries and institutions: a telling indication of things to come?

ABSTRACT

This article provides a policy analysis of Muslim-majority countries’ positions on sexual and reproductive rights (SRR). First-hand observations, interviews, and reports are used to review how statements around various intergovernmental moments continue to be formulated since the International Conference on Population and Development in 1994. The analysis outlines both the similarity and diversity between and among Muslim-majority countries on a range of SRR areas, while pointing out that positions are by no means unique to them. Rather, it is argued that opposition to SRR defines a terrain of “unholy alliances” between and among different religiously inspired nations, and ends by enquiring whether SRR may be an important political indicator of real politik.     

The percentage of HIV treatment and prevention services in Kenya provided by faith-based health providers

ABSTRACT

Although the percentage of health services provided by the faith-based sector in sub-Saharan Africa is often cited along a range from 30% to 70%, depending on the country, such citations tend to be anecdotal and without reference to actual analysis of health service data. This article reports on a secondary analysis of health service data in Kenya to determine the percentage of HIV services provided by faith-based health providers. It then discusses the contributions of faith-based providers in light of these data, identifying opportunities and challenges involved in efforts to ensure that the resources of the faith-based sector are maximised.     

西方艾滋病性风险行为研究的社会性别视野

社会性别作为一个重要的分析范畴,对理解艾滋病在全球范围内的传播有着重要作用。本文从个体、人际关系和文化层次,总结上世纪90年代以来西方学者在艾滋病性风险行为研究中引入的社会性别因素,及其在不同文化背景下的应用情况,并展望了未来艾滋病性风险行为在社会性别途径的研究方向。     

RETHINKING AFRICAN SEXUALITIES IN THE CONTEXT OF HIV AND AIDS: THE LIFE AND DEATH DISCOURSE OF ‘MODERNISED POLYGAMY’ IN SUE NYATHI'S THE POLYGAMIST

ABSTRACT

This article is a study of Sue Nyathi's novel The Polygamist as a cultural production dealing with African modern polygamy1 in the context of HIV and AIDS. What is termed ‘modern polygamy’ in this article is a practice where men have several ‘wives’ but not in the African traditional sense, especially within the Shona culture, but in the sense of what is popularised as a ‘small house’ phenomenon. Nyathi's novel is discussed within the following frameworks corresponding to the three distinct parts of the article. In the first part of the discussion, the dichotomy between economic/ social status and ‘modern polygamy’ is explored. The second part of the discussion is a gendered perspective of ‘modern’ polygamy and particularly highlights gender constructions in Nyathi's representation of ‘modern’ polygamy. In the last section, multiple sexual relations and HIV and AIDS are discussed. Significantly, the article demonstrates that imaginative literature is a cultural site that can help us understand human behaviour and HIV and AIDS; particularly in what in religious terms would be referred to as ‘old testament’ polygamy that poses a danger to health and the social fabric in its new form in modern Zimbabwean society.     

在艾滋项目中融入社会性别视角

艾滋病的生物医学特征、流行病学特征以及艾滋病问题的社会医学特征决定了艾滋问题不仅是一个医学或健康问题,同时也是一个重大的公共性和社会性的问题。基于艾滋应对与两性角色、地位、权力的交互作用,以全新的视角探索艾滋应对项目的有效途径,可将艾滋应对项目划分为有害项目、无害项目、具有社会性别敏感性项目以及具有创新性的艾滋项目,进而有意识的在艾滋项目中融入社会性别视角。     

城市社区中应对艾滋的社会动员

以社区为基础的艾滋病防治模式被认为是目前最佳方法之一。本文以城市社区为基点,分析艾滋应对意识的强化与压力的形成,而三大主体的合力为预防艾滋提供了良好的社会环境。