Tackling inequities in HIV/AIDS treatment ‘failure’ and mortality in Kampala, Uganda through participatory research with young men on the social determinants of health

This project aims to consolidate and expand existing research, while using participatory approaches to build young men’s and policymakers’ capacities to make policy on social determinants of health more effective.
Project status
Ongoing
Departments
International

Recent HIV scholarship on Uganda has demonstrated both the great strides the country has made and persistent gaps in the response. Whilst women remain at higher risk of HIV, men face higher rates of ‘treatment failure’ – they are less likely to start and stay on treatment, meaning men (in particular, men under 35 years old) are less virally suppressed. This is worse in informal settlements in Kampala, where complex social determinants of health shape life – including poverty, housing instability, over-policing, and alcohol. However, our understanding of the wider drivers of ‘treatment failure’ and AIDS-related mortality amongst young men is not well-developed. This gap in a ‘research-saturated context’ is reflected in policy documents which have called men a ‘priority population’. The team aim to consolidate and expand existing research, whilst using participatory approaches to build young men’s and policymakers’ capacities to make policy on social determinants of health more effective.

Research Team: Dr Megan Schmidt-Sane, Institute of Development Studies; Dr David Kaawa-Mafigiri, Makerere; Ms Tabitha Hrynick, Institute of Development Studies; Mr Nelson Sande Kakande, Joint Clinical Research Centre

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