December 18, 2008

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1. APRP to co-host two-day meeting on multiple and concurrent partnerships with UNAIDS and World Bank in Gaborone, Botswana

2. Dr. Edward C. Green and Dr. Norman Hearst contribute to USAID technical working groups on PEPFAR indicators

3. Dr. Daniel Halperin receives "Hope is a Vaccine" Award from Global Alliance to Immunize Against AIDS (GAIA) Vaccine Foundation

4. Dr. Timothy Mah completes ScD degree at Harvard SPH and assumes position as HIV/AIDS Prevention Advisor in the Bureau for Global Health, USAID

RESEARCH

5. Dr. Green leads four-country study of involvement of traditional leaders in HIV prevention

6. Dr. Green profiled in Culture and Health: Applying Medical Anthropology by Michael Winkelman (Jossey-Bass, 2008)

7. Dr. Mah leads a World Bank AIDS Strategy and Action Plan study on HIV and Most At Risk Populations in Gambia

8. Dr. Mah publishes second working paper on concurrent sexual partnerships in South Africa

PRESENTATIONS BY APRP RESEARCHERS

9. Dr. Halperin speaks at United Nations General Assembly

10. Dr. Green presents paper at the HIV/AIDS in the Developed Countries conference in Moscow, Russian Federation

11. Other presentations by Dr. Green

12. Other presentations by Dr. Halperin

PUBLICATIONS BY APRP RESEARCHERS

13. Kirby D, Halperin DT. Success in Uganda: an analysis of behavior changes that led to declines in HIV prevalence in the early 1990s. ETR Associates, 2008.

14. Halperin DT, Potts M, Kirby D, Klausner J, Wamai R, Swidler A, Marseille A, Walsh J, Hearst N. Response to DeLay and Prince. Science 2008, 321 (5896): 1632-4.

15. Klausner JD, Wamai RG, Bowa K, Agot K, Kagimba J, Halperin D. Is male circumcision as good as the HIV vaccine we've been waiting for? (Editorial). Future Medicine 2008; 2(1): 1-7.

APRP NEWS & EVENTS

1. APRP to co-host two-day meeting on multiple and concurrent partnerships with UNAIDS and World Bank in Gaborone, Botswana

Jointly with UNAIDS and the World Bank, the Harvard APRP is planning a two-day meeting on Addressing Multiple and Concurrent Partnerships in Southern Africa: Developing Guidance for Bold Actions, to be held January 28-29, 2009 in Gaborone, Botswana. This meeting will bring together approximately 40 representatives from various organizations working in the southern Africa region, including program implementers from governments, NGOs, and community- and faith-based organizations, in order to share program experiences and move forward in establishing best practices in addressing MCP. The goal of the meeting is to develop a collaborative vision and agenda that will guide coordinated evidence-based MCP messages and activities in the region.

2. Dr. Edward C. Green and Dr. Norman Hearst contribute to USAID technical working groups on PEPFAR indicators

Dr. Edward C. Green and Project Affiliate Dr. Norman Hearst continue to contribute to the Technical Working Group on PEPFAR Impact Indicators as it revises behavioral indicators for the next stage of PEPFAR. Dr. Timothy Mah also contributed technical input regarding multiple and concurrent partnerships. Dr. Green, Dr. Mah and Dr. Hearst were invited participants in the conference Addressing Multiple and Concurrent Sexual Partnerships  in Generalized HIV Epidemics,sponsored by the PEPFAR General Population and Youth HIV Prevention Technical Working Group and AIDSTAR-One (held October 29-30, 2008 in Washington, DC). In this setting Dr. Green and Dr. Halperin were recognized for their pioneering work on the importance of partner reduction in effective HIV prevention.

3. Dr. Daniel Halperin receives "Hope is a Vaccine" Award from Global Alliance to Immunize Against AIDS (GAIA) Vaccine Foundation

On December 4, Dr. Daniel Halperin was honored with the Global Alliance to Immunize Against AIDS (GAIA) Vaccine Foundation’s 6th Annual “Hope is a Vaccine” Award. He was credited with helping to uncover the connection between lack of circumcision and AIDS transmission and for advocating family planning and access to care as a low-cost means for stemming the spread of AIDS.

4. Dr. Timothy Mah completes ScD degree at Harvard SPH and assumes position as HIV/AIDS Prevention Advisor in the Bureau for Global Health, USAID

In October, Timothy Mah completed and defended his doctoral dissertation, “Concurrent Sexual Partnerships and the South African HIV Epidemic.” Mah will formally graduate with his Sc.D. degree in March 2009. Dr. Mah left the APRP on December 1 to assume the position of HIV/AIDS Prevention Advisor in the Bureau for Global Health at USAID, under the Global Health Fellows Program. In his new capacity, Dr. Mah will be providing technical assistance on prevention programs around the world, with a focus on generalized epidemics.

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RESEARCH

5. Four-country study of involvement of traditional leaders in HIV prevention

Dr. Green continues to direct a four-country study (South Africa, Swaziland, Botswana and Lesotho) of traditional leaders such as chiefs royals, customary law and indigenous adjudication, and the social norms and social controls governing sexual behavior and gender relations. In Phase I of the study, focus groups and in-depth interviews have been held with a variety of indigenous sector leaders, as well as community members, in South Africa. This study is being performed through the South Africa-based Ubuntu Institute,  with support from the Ford and Kellogg Foundations. The Ford Foundation has awarded the Ubuntu Institute a second grant, to better involve traditional leaders and indigenous spiritual leaders in behavior change and AIDS prevention, as well as establishing linkages between West Africa and South Africa. Dr. Green has been advising and fully participating in all phases of these two project, including participating in a series of focus groups in Swaziland and Botswana in November.

The goal of this research is to seek indigenous channels through which to promote partner reduction (especially of concurrent partnerships) and delay of sex for youth, reintroduction of male circumcision, and decreased gender violence. The research explores solutions suggested by traditional leaders and youth leaders themselves, which to date include:

1.    initiation rites for boys as well as girls;

2.    possible modifications of customary law and its adjudication;

3.    building upon indigenous knowledge, morals, values, etc.;

4.    working with and through chiefs, royals, etc;

5.    building upon cultural events involving music, drama, poetry, song, etc.  

On November 9, a conference was held in Pretoria, South Africa with South African and Swazi chiefs, along with (non-Christian, non-Muslim) spokespersons for indigenous African religion and spiritualism. This conference of some 30 participants focused on how indigenous leaders and indigenous organizations can be mobilized to fight AIDS and reduce gender-based violence. Many interesting and unusual recommendations came out of this meeting, reinforcing the ideas that have emerged from the 4-country study. The Ubuntu Institute, which organized the conference, and the Ford Foundation, which supported it, are interested in the exchange of ideas between West Africa and southern Africa, and a similar conference will be held in Ghana.

7. Dr. Mah leads a World Bank AIDS Strategy and Action Plan study on HIV and Most At Risk Populations in Gambia

In September, Dr. Mah traveled to Gambia to lead a World Bank AIDS Strategy and Action Plan study on HIV and most-at-risk populations. The researchers conducted focus groups and interviews, with the aim of providing an evidence-base for the drafting of the next five-year strategic plan.

8. Dr. Mah publishes second working paper on concurrent sexual partnerships in South Africa

Dr. Mah concluded his research in South Africa on correlates of concurrent sexual partnerships, and published his second working paper through the Centre for Social Science Research at the University of Cape Town. This working paper is entitled "Concurrent sexual partnerships and HIV/AIDS among youths in the Cape Metropolitan Area" and can be accessed here. Dr. Mah has also been asked by the Centre for Social Science at the University of Cape Town to assist in the redesigning of the sexual history sections of their Cape Area Panel Survey. The panel survey provided the first data on concurrency in the Cape Town metropolitan area, which Dr. Mah analyzed as a component of his doctoral dissertation. 

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PRESENTATIONS BY APRP RESEARCHERS

9. Dr. Daniel Halperin speaks at United Nations General Assembly

Dr. Halperin was an invited speaker, along with Jeffrey Sachs of the Earth Institute at Columbia University and Dr. Margaret Chan, Director General of the World Health Organization, at a special session of the Second Committee of the United Nations General Assembly at the UN Headquarteres in New York. The topic of the October 24 event was "Globalization and Health". To read a background document and for more information, click here.

11. Other presentations by Dr. Green

Dr. Edward Green presented the paper “Fighting HIV/AIDS with and through the Indigenous Sector,” at an Ubuntu Institute conference, “Fostering Innovative Socio-Cultural Interventions in the Fight against HIV/AIDS” on November 11, 2008 in Pretoria, South Africa.

He co-authored a poster presentation at the International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA 2008), Dec. 3-7 in Dakar, Senegal. The presentation, entitled "Role of Traditional Leadership in Supporting and Designing HIV Prevention Interventions," outlined findings of the Phase I four country study of engaging the indigenous sector in influencing community/cultural norms and behavioral patterns (with funding from the Ford and W.K. Kellogg Foundations).