Understanding HIV Risk Behavior from a Sociocultural Perspective

• Authors: Claudia E. Ordóñez, McCord Hospital; Vincent Marconi, Emory University
• Journal Title: Journal of AIDS and Clinical Research
• Volume: Volume 3, Number 7
• Publisher: OMICS International | 2012-08-04, Pages e108-e108
• Type of Work: Article | Final Publisher PDF
• Publisher DOI: http://doi.org/10.4172/2155-6113.1000e108
• Subjects: Health Sciences, Public Health

Abstract

Although the incidence rate for HIV infection varies by population and geography, global estimates have shown a modest decline over the past several years [1]. Accordingly, this past July, the XIX International AIDS Conference that took place in Washington DC adopted the slogan “Turning the Tide Together”, signifying that a concerted effort has begun to end the epidemic. Nonetheless, it is important to highlight that within certain communities, these rates have actually increased. Recently social and cultural aspects such as ethnicity, poverty, gender relations, and geographic region have also been identified as risk factors and have fueled the epidemic among vulnerable populations around the globe [2,3]. The 2011 UNAIDS report on the last 30 years of the epidemic warns about today’s complex and varied picture at the regional level, with HIV incidence steadily increasing in the Middle East and North Africa and a reverse in the decline in new infections since 2005 for Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The report also highlights that for every three people who start treatment, another five are infected in parts of East and Southern Africa. This information corroborates the considerable variation in HIV prevalence and epidemiological patterns within countries, and show the existence of “epidemic hotspots” [4]. Hotspots exist among men who have sex with men (MSM), ethnic minorities, young women, injection drug users (IDUs) and population groups historically subject to significant inequality. Within a highincome country, the Southern United States has become another example of an epidemic hotspot. Over the course of the HIV epidemic in the U.S., the rate of new infections declined in the early 1990s amongst primarily white MSM but began to rise amongst minority populations for both MSM and heterosexual men and women in urban areas and in the rural south. During this time, poverty, lack of education, injection drug use (IDU) and commercial sex were identified as risk behaviors linked with horizontal HIV transmission [5]. South Africa is a wellknown example of hyperendemic HIV rates in low to middle-income countries. In these contexts, using the sociocultural1 perspective is key to understanding and addressing epidemic hotspots around the world and any associated HIV risk behavior.