HIV/AIDS and security

The UN and its associated agencies have been among the most important players in increasing global AIDS awareness. But the intervention of the Security Council has been critical in securitizing HIV/AIDS. Moreover, the claims made by the Security Council have set the agenda for the subsequent debate on HIV/AIDS as a security issue. This article examines these claims—that HIV/AIDS poses a risk to internal stability, national security and peacekeepers, and that conflict is a vector for the spread of the disease. It argues that the evidence is less clear cut, more complex and case sensitive than the original claims suggested. Moreover, the causal links between HIV/AIDS and insecurity appear less robust. It concludes that the case made by the Security Council was somewhat speculative, while the snowballing of subsequent pessimistic thinking led these concerns to a position of orthodoxy that now appears less assured. HIV/AIDS remains a tragedy and a human security issue; whether it is a national security issue is more problematic.     

新见“分布”及有关问题

传世有一种布币,布面有左右排列的阳文“分布”二字,平首平肩,首中皆有一孔,足尖趋于圆形。由于此布与桥足布类似,过去多列入桥足布。一般通长约60、肩宽29、足宽33mm左右,重在11．2—12g之问。这种“分布”最早见于清代晚期著录,但多为临摹线图。墨拓始见方若《药雨古化杂咏》,实物主要收藏于天津和上海博物馆。对其看法,学术界意见不一。     

Poverty, debt and Africa's HIV/AIDS crisis

As Africa enters its third decade of structural adjustment pressures, the promised advantages of economic restructuring—as hailed by the various lending bodies— have not been forthcoming. The indelible picture emanating from the continent is one of a people relegated to a position of extreme poverty as state managers and the international community either fail to, or seem unable to, pursue policies that will secure the basic needs of its citizens. To compound matters, HIV and AIDS are threatening to erode the continent's already fragile development capacity. Predicated on the continent's limited economic capabilities, this article charts the relationship between poverty, debt relief and the politics of effective response to HIV/AIDS in Africa. The article begins with an assessment of the societal causes and consequences of the epidemic, moving on to contextualize the case for debts cancellation. It concludes by examining the crucial relationship between debt relief and the successful implementation of effective strategies against the pandemic in Africa.     

Securitising HIV/AIDS in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region

For the People's Republic of China, the localised HIV/AIDS epidemics in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region are emerging as threats to those persons affected by the disease, but also to the stability of Xinjiang. This article examines the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Xinjiang and considers the impacts it may have on human and political security. The authors argue that due to its remote location and the religious, cultural and ethnic diversity of its population, and current political situation, Xinjiang poses difficult obstacles to effective programs in tackling HIV/AIDS, and the pandemic has disproportionately affected the minority nationalities in the region compared to their Han counterparts. If the HIV/AIDS pandemic among minority nationalities in Xinjiang continues to grow, it has the potential to further weaken social cohesion there, as well as Uyghur human security. Therefore, a HIV/AIDS pandemic in Xinjiang could tip the balance in terms of ethnic and regional stability.     

TIN ISOTOPY—A NEW METHOD FOR SOLVING OLD QUESTIONS

Tin was a vital commodity in times past. In central Europe, the earliest finds of tin‐bronze date to about 2200 bc , while in Greece they are c. 400–500 years earlier. While there is evidence for prehistoric copper mining—for example, in the Alps or mainland Greece, among other places—the provenance of the contemporary tin is still an unsolved problem. This work deals with a new approach for tracing the ancient tin via tin isotope signatures. The tin isotope ratios of 50 tin ores from the Erzgebirge region (D) and 30 tin ores from Cornwall (GB) were measured by MC–ICP–MS. Most ore deposits were found to be quite homogeneous regarding their tin isotope composition, but significant differences were observed between several deposits. This fact may be used to distinguish different tin deposits and thus form the basis for the investigation of the provenance of ancient tin that has been sought for more than a century. Furthermore, the tin‐isotope ratio of the ‘Himmelsscheibe von Nebra’ will be presented: the value fits well with the bulk of investigated tin ores from Cornwall.     

Reproduction rates in multiregion modeling systems for HIV / AIDS

The persistence of HIV/AIDS has seen a revival of academic interest in the development of modeling systems to assist understanding the population dynamics of this infection. Moreover, it has become increasingly recognized that a key component of these systems for interpreting disease prevention is their reproduction rate, which provides an indication of whether an epidemic might start in a community described by a particular set of epidemiological characteristics. The properties of these rates have been explored in detail for models of a single risk behavior but not for multiregion formats that allow for the transfer of infection between geographical units. Therefore, in this paper I derive reproduction rates for a multiregion HIV/AIDS model together with their associated critical thresholds that estimate the minimum population of susceptibles necessary for an epidemic to begin. These statistics are interpreted for a simplified global setting representing regional variations in the potential onset of HIV/AIDS. In the discussion I examine the potential applicability of these results to understanding HIV/AIDS prevention.     

Localizing HIV/AIDS discourse in a rural Kenyan community

This paper examines the effectiveness of multimodal texts used in HIV/AIDS campaigns in rural western Kenya using multimodal discourse analysis (Kress and Van Leeuwen, 2006; Martin and Rose, 2004). Twenty HIV/AIDS documents (posters, billboards and brochures) are analysed together with interview data (20 unstructured one-on-one interviews and six focus groups) from the target group to explore the effectiveness of the multimodal texts in engaging the target rural audience in meaningful interaction towards behavioural change. It is concluded that in some cases the HIV/AIDS messages are misinterpreted or lost as the multimodal texts used are unfamiliar and contradictory to the everyday life experiences of the rural folk. The paper suggests localization of HIV/AIDS discourse through use of local modes of communication and resources.     

The politics of civil society in confronting HIV/AIDS

Civil society organizations have been at the forefront of the response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. However, the contributions and the models of action they offer have remained marginalized by most governments and international organizations. This article looks at the initiatives of civil society actors. It discusses some of the political reasons and rationale behind the less than enthusiastic support for these initiatives from governments and large aid agencies. Two reasons are suggested: many politicians fear providing support and credibility to civil society organizations that might then build upon their success to question and challenge development failures; and the threat perceived by national and international bureaucrats to their own assumed expertise and solutions to the pandemic. In some cases, civil society organizations have been co-opted to fill gaps that governments themselves can not or will not address. However, even here, governments assume the credit for 'successes' in controlling HIV/AIDS.     

After the Exception: HIV/AIDS Beyond Salvation and Scarcity

Abstract: Access to treatment for HIV/AIDS became a flashpoint for global justice struggles in the late 1990s. An expanding international response, premised to a significant extent on the idea of HIV/AIDS as an exceptional global problem, has since delivered treatment, care and prevention to growing numbers of people. HIV/AIDS exceptionalism, however, has increasingly been questioned, many aspects of the response have been critiqued and donor funding has started to decline. I argue that, having been framed as an exceptional humanitarian emergency, the question of HIV/AIDS as a global problem is increasingly located within a discourse of scarcity. Tracking the growing entanglement of global HIV/AIDS relief with neoliberal governmentality and the emergence of something I term therapeutic neoliberalism, I argue that the shift from a rationality of salvation to one of administration poses new challenges for global health activism. Questioning the discourse of scarcity remains essential to an alternative global health agenda.     

EPIDEMICS AND CONTAINMENT: Cuba and the HIV/AIDS epidemic

The Cuban response to a new and little understood disease, HIV/AIDS, was swift. A ban on imported blood was followed by mass testing of HIV antibodies, beginning with Cubans who had travelled abroad. In 1986, a sanatorium – ‘Los Cocos’ – was opened to treat Cuban soldiers who had returned with AIDS from Angola. Soon after, Cubans who had never left the country began testing HIV positive, most of whom were gay and bisexual. ‘Los Cocos’ was neither a hospital nor a prison. The campus was large, and duplex apartments and sports areas were built. The director, Dr Jorge Perez Avila, an infectious disease expert, stepped in as the Dr Fauci of Cuba. His goal was to continue his research on AIDS while simultaneously ensuring that the sanatorium formed a safe refuge for patients while awaiting antivirus medicines. Through his work, Dr Perez managed to transform the sanatorium into a place where sex and sexual differences were accepted, and where a gay community could emerge to produce theatre, arts and sex education for Cuba's public schools. In 1994, the sanatorium became a voluntary institution and many of the patients opted to remain.     

HIV/AIDS and development: failures of vision and imagination

As early as the mid-1990s the US Bureau of the Census was making dire predictions as to the effect of AIDS on life expectancy, infant and child mortality and population size and structure in a number of AIDS affected countries. Despite this it was not until 1997 that the United Nations began to consider HIV/AIDS as a development issue. This article looks at how the international community (still) fails to take HIV/AIDS into account in setting development goals. The article argues that this myopic view means that in 2015, when we assess the development goals, we are certain to have 'failed' in a number of countries and, therefore, that a new realism in target setting is imperative. There is a need to understand better the impact of the disease by taking into account that it is a long-wave event with a complex current and future impact. Sustained equitable development will be essential in dealing with this impact.     

Spatial Diffusion of the HIV/AIDS Epidemic: Modeling Implications and Case Study of AIDS Incidence in Ohio

This paper extends a compartmental epidemiological model for HIV transmission and AIDS incidence to include hierarchical and expansion spatial diffusion. An implication of the resultant model is that hierarchical diffusion causes the large infection growth rates of densely populated areas at the top of the central places hierarchy to “chain” down and dominate small local growth rates during the exponential-growth phase of the epidemic. Also, hierarchical diffusion causes a high transient growth rate in the first few years of a local epidemic. The spatial compartmental model fits observed AIDS incidence spatial diffusion patterns in Ohio reasonably well.     

慈善组织最大挑战是满足捐赠者需求

8月23日至8月31日,民政部起草的《公益慈善捐助信息披露指引（征求意见稿）》（以下简称《指引》）面向公众征求意见。其中,《指引》对信息披露主体、时间、内容做了明确细致的规定,得到专家肯定。     

The HIV/AIDS pandemic: human rights,societal, and developmental issues

Abstract

This paper quotes examples from the long list of past and contemporary national accords that have linked health to human rights. It describes the dimensions and urgency of the global threat posed by the current HIV/AIDS pandemic and its continuing global acceleration, and suggests that it is failure to address the associated societal, human rights, educational, poverty, and related issues that accounts for the failure to contain it. Stressing the essential nexus between these issues and the pandemic, it is pointed out that they are most pressing in those countries in which the pandemic is spreading most rapidly, that concurrent national or international strategies to deal with them would be essential prerequisites for the success of any HIV/AIDS control programme, and that success will call for wide international collaboration and response. Recent international action on HIV/AIDS is reviewed, including the Geneva (1998) and Durban (2000) meetings of international health planners and drug manufacturers, the Cologne (1999) and Okinawa (2000) meetings of leaders of the G8 countries, and the enactment by President Clinton (2000) of the Global AIDS and Tuberculosis Relief Act. In conclusion it is stated that in spite of the urgency of the need for such international action, there are still roles for special interest community groups and for governmental and non-governmental organisations. And, while it is recognised that educational campaigns by such groups are liable to run up against entrenched taboos or conflicting cultural norms, it is acknowledged that the significant drops in infection rates recently achieved in Senegal and Uganda are evidence that such campaigns, appropriately structured, vigorously administered, and promoting the appropriate societal transformations, can work. Finally, likely roles for youth led, peer directed educational initiatives are recognised.     

Introduction:25 years of living with HIV/AIDS: challenges and prospects

To mark the 25th anniversary of the discovery of the HIV virus, this special issue brings together a collection of articles from leading scholars engaged in, or concerned with, the challenges posed by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Collectively, the articles address the power relations driving HIV/AIDS, frustrating the possibility of alleviation, care and recovery and operating to relegate entire regions to a vulnerable and bleak future.     

流动人口与HIV／AIDS扩散——以云南省为例

本文以云南省为例探讨了流动人口与HIV／AIDS(艾滋病病毒／艾滋病)扩散的关系。表明流动人口是造成HIV扩散的重要因素,流动人口通过其特性和具体地域因素对HIV扩散起作用。最后提出了相应的对策。     

Alternative Population Dynamics in Selected HIV/AIDS Modeling Systems: Some Cross-National Comparisons

This paper examines how demographic representations for the different risk populations influence the epidemic outputs of a simple process-based HIV/AIDS model. Alternative demographic specifications are presented in conjunction with transmission rules for both community and regional settings. Then, the existence, or nonexistence, of equilibrium solutions to these various models is determined to evaluate whether the forecast AIDS series will persist indefinitely or eventually terminate. Last, simulations for countries with distinctive birth and death rates are used to summarize the effect of this variation on the timing and size of the epidemic. All the results assume an epidemic that is unaffected by the practice of safer sex.     

HIV/AIDS financing: a case for improving the quality and quantity of aid

There is no doubt that increasing amounts of funding are needed to provide a full package of HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and mitigation interventions to Africa. However, even the existing funding flows are posing considerable challenges at a national level. In the quest for rapid results, donors have too often chosen to alleviate the lack of local capacity by bringing in foreign technical assistance or building parallel systems for delivering commodities such as drugs that may not be sustainable over the long term once external assistance stops. Even when such interventions may be relevant, they do not address the biggest challenge, namely how to build up the capacity and the systems needed for large-scale implementation of the AIDS response. This article argues that to attain the needed efficacy in HIV/AIDS mitigation programmes, further sustainable increase in external financing is certainly required (particularly for treatment programmes), but even more important is the need to implement them.     

Metaphors and fault lines: Case studies of HIV/AIDS in Haiti and Uganda

Farmer, Paul. AIDS and Accusation: Haiti and the Geography of Blame. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992. xiv + 338 pp. including notes, bibliography, and index. $35.00 cloth. Barnett, Tony and Piers Blaikie. AIDS in Africa: Its Present and Future Impact. New York: Guilford Press, 1992. ix + 193 pp. including references and index. $18.95 paper.