TITLE:
HIV prevention: Towards a “structural-plus” approach
AUTHORS:
Indrani Gupta, William Joe, Shalini Rudra
KEYWORDS:
HIV; Prevention; Structural Factors; Development
JOURNAL NAME:
Health,
Vol.5 No.1,
January
18,
2013
ABSTRACT: Lack of integration and coordination between HIV prevention programmes and developmental programmes explain why many countries have not been able to halt the epidemic, and others still have unacceptably high prevalence. A framework is presented here with supporting evidence to argue that existing structural interventions may be unsustainable in the long run because they do not address core developmental issues or the “structural plus factors”. This problem emanates from the almost total administrative and intellectual disconnect between policies that address development issues and those that address HIV prevention. Usual prevention packages may result only in short term benefits. To get the most out of limited global resources on prevention, it is critical that planners recognize and understand that parallel policies for AIDS prevention and development are not going to be cost-effective and sustainable, and the only option is to approach prevention as well as development in an integrated manner.