Bassett MT; International Conference on AIDS.
Int Conf AIDS. 1993 Jun 6-11; 9: 11 (abstract no. PS-06-2).
Depart. of Community Medicine, Univ. of Zimbabwe Harare.
Understanding of HIV transmission between individuals offers little insight into the emerging uneven worldwide distribution of infection. The brunt of the epidemic is borne by the poor, marginalized and powerless. Already 75% of all HIV-infected people reside in developing countries, a proportion expected to rise to 90% soon. Within developed countries, escalating HIV transmission is found in impoverished communities. To understand this unequal pattern of vulnerability, we must look to the social and economic forces which perpetuate the AIDS epidemic. To do so is more than a polemical point. Communities are not collections of abstract individuals who freely choose the conditions of their lives, including sexual behavior. For example, in Zimbabwe, poverty, migrant labor, gender inequality and regional military instability are antecedents to behavior we now call "high-risk". Efforts to promote individual behavior change will founder if we fail to address broader issues.
Publication Types:
Keywords:
- Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
- Developed Countries
- Developing Countries
- Disease Outbreaks
- HIV Infections
- HIV Seropositivity
- Infection
- Poverty
- Residence Characteristics
- Sexual Behavior
- Socioeconomic Factors
- Transients and Migrants
- Zimbabwe
- economics
Other ID:
UI: 102202657
From Meeting Abstracts