Exploration of poverty, culture, and class in the treatment and transmission of HIV/AIDS in the Western Cape of South Africa.
Int Conf AIDS 2002 Jul 7-12; 14:(abstract no.. G12490)
Brown AL, Flisher AJ, Airhihenbuwa C Seton Hall University, South Orange, NJ, United States
Issues-Aim of research was to gain a greater understanding of how race class, gender, and culture and the impacts the treatment and transmission of HIV/AIDS on communities and individuals living in the Western Cape of South Africa. This knowledge can be used to evaluate and develop culturally specific and appropriate intervention strategies for young adults and adolescents infected and affected by HIV/AIDS. Description-During a research experience in Cape Town, South Africa, the first author surveyed and visited various schools, townships, mental health facilities, and HIV/AIDS testing and counseling centers. He also attended community mental health training sessions and awareness rallies, worked with HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention campaigns on university campuses, conducted workshops. Lesson Learned-Globalization has negatively impacted economic development in South Africa, increasing the population of individuals living in poverty. The monopolization of the pharmaceutical industry has increased the prices of medications and treatments making them unobtainable to the poor which have the highest rates of infection. The increased health risks associated with poverty, lack of educational resources, and inadequate treatments impact the treatment and transmission of HIV/AIDS. Subsequently, the mental health and standard of living of those living with HIV/AIDS is negatively impacted. Other consequences include increased participation of youth in commercial sex as a mechanism of economic survival; increase in orphaned children, mother-to-child transmission through breastfeeding; loss of viable human capital; and increased incidents of rape, recidivism and transmission among prison populations. Recommendations-Appropriate intervention strategies should be multifaceted aimed at psychoeducation, elevation of poverty, economic development, and political activism to address the myriad of issues which impact adolescents and young adults in South Africa and globally.
Keywords: AEGIS, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, HIV Infections, Culture, AIDS Dementia Complex, Poverty, HIV Seropositivity, Health Education, Prisons, Laboratory Techniques and Procedures, Counseling, AIDS Serodiagnosis, South Africa, Research, Adolescence, Adult, Child, Human, transmission, therapy, ethnology
