HIV/AIDS - susceptibility in Africa

Photo from Flickr user jonrawlinson. Creative Commons Licence.

It has been noticeable that HIV/AIDS rates vary tremendously throughout the world. It has frequently been blamed on different social conditions and sexual behaviour, though scientists have thought that there may be a genetic factor to the problem.

Researchers from University College London and the University of Texas have recently published a study which indicates that this may be the result of having a gene, the DARC gene, which gives protection against malaria but which at the same time seems to increase susceptibility to the HIV virus by 40%. At the same time, it appears to prolong survival causing AIDS to develop more slowly.

HIV affects 25 million people in sub-Saharan Africa, a far greater burden than any other region, and 90% of Africans carry this gene.

UCL news release

A social vaccine

Children going to school in Kwa-Zulu Natal.

From the World Bank Photo Collection on Flickr. Creative Commons Licence.

A report from the London School of Tropical Medicine and the University of Witwatersrand gives details of a study carried out in rural areas in South Africa, looking at the sexual behaviour of young people aged 14 to 25 with particular attention whether there is any difference in HIV rates between school attenders and similar school non-attenders.

The findings are:

• Both sexes in school reported fewer sexual partners than similar out-of-school people.
• Girls in school reported greater condom use, less frequent sex and partners closer to their own ages.
• The most striking result was that boys were much less likely to be HIV positive.

The leader of the team, Dr Hargreaves, says

Our study suggests that, in South Africa, being in school can shape young people's social networks, leading to less high-risk sexual behaviour and, therefore, lower rates of HIV infection. We also recently conducted a review of 36 studies across sub-Saharan Africa which came to the same conclusions - that across a number of countries, those with higher education may now be at lower risk of HIV infection, reversing previous trends. We need to accelerate efforts to increase access to education, including secondary education, if we are going to make an impact on this epidemic.

I haven't seen the full report, so I am presuming they took into account whether or not the students who were HIV positive didn't attend school because of that, rather than the other way around.

It is very encouraging that it is possible to add a "social vaccine", education, to the biomedical efforts to eradicate HIV/Aids.

The future of abstinence?

From Alas, A Blog, via the f word, news that a study has been released showing that abstinence only campaigns have had no effect on sexual abstinence, unprotected sex, or the number of sexual partners.

This is on top of growing evidence that the Abstinence, Be faithful, use Condoms (ABC) campaign in Uganda has been failing because of a push towards abstinence and away from condom use which has gradually become more and more of an afterthought. Uganda used to be a success story in the fight against AIDS, but the infection rates are now rising. A comprehensive article appears in Thought Theater.

In Nyasa Times, from Malawi, there is an article saying that,as the result of AIDS, the army has been reduced by 40% which is a staggering amount. It also says that the US has tripled the amount of aid for fighting against HIV/AIDS. Now that this new report has been released, albeit very quietly, we can only hope that the aid programs will no longer tie money to abstinence programs.

According to Stephen Lewis, Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, Western inertia is nailing the coffin shut for Africa.