A Population-Structured HIV Epidemic in Israel: Roles of Risk and Ethnicity (original) (raw)

War and Hiv Prevalence

African Security Review, 2005

In this article we examine the hypothesis that armed conflict increases HIV prevalence, using the case study of the Ethiopian Defence Forces and the civilian population of Tigray region of Ethiopia during the Ethio-Eritrean war of 1998-2000. The study utilises data sets for HIV prevalence in the region, before, during and after the conflict. These include HIV screening conducted among the military during mobilisation and demobilisation, ANC surveillance data, blood donor screening data, and voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) data. The datasets are severely limited in both quality and quantity. They do not show clear evidence of an increase in HIV prevalence associated with the war. Data from the screening of conscripts and demobilising soldiers indicate a 76% increase in HIV prevalence during the war period, but this increase does not appear to be larger than would have occurred among a similar cohort of young men in civilian life. The ante-natal clinic (ANC) and blood donor data show a decline in HIV prevalence since the end of the war. The robustness of this finding is uncertain. It can be concluded that there is no evidence of a general increase in HIV prevalence associated with the war in either civilian or military populations. There are indications of a post-conflict decline in prevalence. Better quality HIV surveillance is needed in Tigray to ascertain the trajectory of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the region.

The Health of People Living With HIV

Journal of Urban Health: Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine, 2002

hospital and those patients on a later admission. Multiple regression, using the probit and random-effects probit specifications, was used. The dependent variable equaled 1 if the patient left AMA on a given admission. Of the 4,766 admissions, 1,257 involved a patient leaving AMA, a rate of 26% (compared to a hospital-wide AMA rate of less than 2%). For the sample of patients who had previously been admitted to the hospital, admissions that involved a patient leaving the hospital on a "welfare Wednesday" were 25% more likely to have been AMA cases. For the sample of patients on their first-ever admission, no statistically significant welfare Wednesday effect was found. Older patients were relatively less likely to leave AMA. Patients with no fixed address were more likely to leave AMA, as were HIV-positive patients. The AMA rates were found to be very high among injection drug users. Patients who left the hospital on a welfare Wednesday were much more likely to have been AMA cases, but only if they had been previously admitted to the hospital. Patients appear to "learn" about the welfare system. Policies to assist the hospital in curbing the abuse of AMA use among injection drug users require future discussion and research.