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Comprehensive & Cost Effective Laboratory Monitoring of HIV/AIDS: an African Role Model
Published on: October 31, 2010
Factors Driving the HIV Epidemic in Southern Africa
Lyle R McKinnon1,2, Quarraisha Abdool Karim3,4
1Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA), University of KwaZulu-Natal, Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine, 719 Umbilo Road, Private Bag X7, Congella, Durban, 4013, South Africa. Lyle.Mckinnon@caprisa.org.
Abstract:
The HIV pandemic has disproportionately impacted sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Africa in particular. The concurrent presence of overlapping epidemic drivers likely underpins how and why the HIV epidemic is so explosive in this region, with implications for understanding approaches to reduce transmission. In this review, we discuss the relative contribution and interaction between epidemic drivers in the Southern African context, including factors both distally and proximally associated with the likelihood and degree of exposure to HIV and factors that increase the probability of transmission when exposure occurs. In particular, we focus on young women as a key population in need of HIV prevention and highlight factors that increase their risk on several levels.
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