Emerging future issues in HIV/AIDS social research: Commentary

APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Judith Auerbach, PhD, Science and Public Policy, San Francisco AIDS Foundation, 995 Market Street, Suite 200, San Francisco, CA 94103, 415-487-3080, jauerbach@sfaf.org

In the near future, the journal AIDS will be publishing an editorial review on "Emerging future issues in HIV/AIDS Social Research." The authors, Samuel R. Friedman, Susan C. Kippax,Nancy Phaswana-Mafuya, Diana Rossi, and Christy E. Newman, are from 4 continents (North America, Australia, Africa, South America).

This session will use this paper as a starting point to focus on three processes and on how we can intervene in them: (1) Processes through which wars, transitions and other upheavals sometimes affect HIV epidemics and care, and how we can predict and mitigate this; (2) Emerging biomedicine and its attendant positive and negative social and epidemiologic impacts; (3) Government policies that ignore or defy available evidence.

This commentary will critique and expand upon the concepts presented in the paper, informed by the presenter's direct experience as a social scientist working in governmental and non-governmental research funding agencies.

Learning Objectives:

At the conclusion of the session, the participant in this session will be able to

1. Discuss a number of social-biomedical- interactions and ways in which such interactions can be managed to increase the likelihood of positive outcomes.
2. Understand several perspectives about what are some of the most important research and intervention issues concerning how long-term large scale and mid-scale socioeconomic and ecological change affects AIDS epidemics.
3. Discuss ways in which emerging biomedical interventions may create social impacts that create HIV-related problems.
4. Think about how participants with influence over students, policy, research funding, or journals can help mobilize the research, knowledge, will and resources to meet these changes.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Emerging Future Issues in HIV/AIDS Social Research

The 134th Annual Meeting & Exposition (November 4-8, 2006) of APHA