Imaginative geographies of gender and HIV/AIDS: moving beyond neoliberalism

This paper examines how neoliberal development discourse contributes to the production and maintenance of problematic gendered hierarchies and spaces. By interrogating the basic assumptions undergirding this discourse, this paper explores how neoliberalism produces spaces which normalise certain identities—especially those associated with individualism and economic rationality, and makes errant values such as communalism and altruism. Drawing on perspectives from feminist geographies, we argue that by normalising and privileging certain masculine identities, neoliberalism reinscribes and legitimizes gendered power relations that are counterproductive to addressing HIV/AIDS. The ‘ideal’ person fighting HIV/AIDS in the neoliberal framework is rational, competitive and self-interested, but these characteristics are complicit in worsening HIV prevalence and mobilize problematic gender roles and identities. Given the pervasiveness of this ideology in Malawi, we propose ways in which families, communities and institutions can challenge and reshape gender identities and potential solutions to HIV within this context.     

Mapping the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Nigeria using exploratory spatial data analysis

This paper examines the spatial variation of HIV/AIDS prevalence rates in Nigeria. It uses Exploratory Spatial Data Analytical (ESDA) techniques to provide insight into the pattern. The overriding objective is to determine if there is a significant spatial clustering of HIV/AIDS. The calculated and mapped Global and Local Moran’s I, and Getis and Ord G _i * values reveal certain states such as Benue, Nassarawa, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and Cross River have significant spatial clusters of HIV/AIDS rates in Nigeria. The spatial analysis enables policy makers to identify states most affected, and design effective and culturally acceptable preventive measures. Specific policies targeted at states are a more appropriate approach in tackling the epidemic rather than the usual universal cookie-cut HIV reduction strategies that may not be applicable to the different cultural milieu.     

Moving tales: postcards of everyday life living with HIV in Auckland, New Zealand

This photo-essay presents a window into the methodological processes and outcomes which formed part of research with HIV positive men in Auckland, New Zealand. Recognising both theoretical and methodological shifts in the sub-discipline of Health Geography, this research explored how HIV might be more fully incorporated into the palpable world of everyday life in which experiences of literal place as well as place-in-the-world are irrevocably linked to one’s demeanour and feelings. While recognising their potential limits, it is concluded that photo-elicitation and caption writing provide two ways in which geographers might continue expanding their methodological repertoire as they seek to explain relationships between people and the places they occupy.     

Factors influencing willingness to comply with HIV/AIDS prevention measures by female college students in Kolkata,West Bengal,India

With a 2.4 million people living with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), India is among the countries in the world most vulnerable to the spread of HIV. This study focuses on understanding what makes female college students (ages 18–24) in Kolkata, India willing to comply with HIV/AIDS preventive measures; these students are widely believed to be at low risk of infection with HIV. Through a questionnaire survey, the data used in this study was collected from 232 female students attending five higher education institutes. Multiple regression analysis reveals that religion, household income, perception of whether preventive measures would hamper freedom, and respondents’ perception of the effectiveness of preventive measures all influence the students’ willingness to comply with preventive measures. Based on its findings, the study makes several recommendations to improve HIV/AIDS prevention in Kolkata and West Bengal, India.     

Applications of geospatial analysis to surveillance data: a spatial examination of HIV/AIDS prevalence in Zambia

Techniques of spatial statistics and GIS are applied to socio-economic, demographic and HIV sentinel data to characterize the geographical distribution of HIV prevalence in Zambia and to estimate current prevalence rates. Maps of the 4?years under study (i.e. 1994, 1998, 2002 and 2004) reveal a spatial variation in HIV prevalence with urban and provincial districts having higher prevalence than rural areas. However, there was an overall trend of decrease in HIV prevalence across the country. The year 2004 exhibited the most reduction, coinciding with protective sexual behavior campaigns operating in the country. Risk factors for HIV prevalence included literacy rates, unemployment, poverty and urban residency. Analysis of regression residual maps indicated high spatial autocorrelation: Moran’s I value was 0.28 (z?=?4.12 and p?<?0.000) and a highly significant Robust LM (lag; p?<?0.00000) suggestive of contagious and hierarchic spatial diffusion processes. High HIV prevalence rates among interdependent districts and locational similarity patterns suggest that HIV control programs in the country would require an integrated approach combining HIV prevention messages as well as an understanding of social and cultural interactions between interdependent districts that produce behavioral diffusion of HIV prevalence rates.     

An interdisciplinary approach to HIV/AIDS stigma and discrimination in Belize: the roles of geography and ethnicity

Belize experiences the highest rates of HIV/AIDS in Central America, ranging between 2.1 and 3.2% (World Health Organization 2008). To add to the limited literature on HIV/AIDS Stigma and Discrimination (HASD) in Belize, the authors conducted a study to assess whether stigma and discrimination is related to geography and ethnicity. One-hundred forty participants were interviewed using a structured survey instrument at three different parts of the country, and the results were analyzed quantitatively. These places were Cayo District on the western border with Guatemala, Belize City, and two cayes (Caye Caulker and Ambergris Caye). Respondents in Belize City generally held the lowest rates of stigmatizing and discriminatory attitudes towards individuals living with HIV/AIDS, highlighting a possible relationship between geography and ethnicity. Concurrently, self-identifying Afro-Belizeans and Creoles reported lower rates of HASD attitudes in some contexts than other ethnic groups. The results show that there may a relation between geography, ethnicity, and HASD, and that a randomized, controlled study is an important next step in determining the strength of that relation.     

HIV and AIDS in Africa: a geographic analysis at multiple spatial scales

This study offers an alternative method rooted in GIS techniques and spatial analysis to estimate HIV/AIDS prevalence over space from an incomplete surveillance data set and explain the variation of those estimates. The results clearly show that the HIV/AIDS epidemic is complex and that it is interconnected with other geographic, historical, economic and cultural phenomena which help explain its spatial spread and variation. The regression models which were developed in this paper illustrated that variables which measure the historical context of colonialism such as resource exploitation and labor migration, gender, culture, contemporary global forces, poverty and disease burden have all contributed variously to the rapid spread of this disease both in space and time. The policy implication is that concentrating on behavior change or therapy alone may not turn the epidemic around. The attack needs to be multifaceted and interdisciplinary taking into consideration the context and the economic and social realities at multiple spatial scales.     

Anglo American media representations, traditional medicine, and HIV/AIDS in South Africa: from muti killings to garlic cures

Before 2000 limited media coverage of medicine in South Africa existed, yet much of what did exist centered primarily on traditional healing practices. It was not until the introduction of HIV/AIDS that traditional medicine was seen as having some potential value to the population, but only so far as the ability of traditional healers to direct patients to biomedical treatment. This article examines how the contemporary western media portrays medicine in South Africa and how the introduction of HIV/AIDS as a major news story has shifted the depiction of western and traditional medical treatment. Insights from these questions are examined in light of the colonial context of South Africa’s political struggle over medicine.     

Queens as Mothers: the role of the traditional safety net of care and support for HIV/AIDS orphans and vulnerable children in Ghana

The paper examines the significance of the traditional safety net to provide security and help to orphans and vulnerable children (OVC). (Abbreviation OVC, as conceptualised by UNICEF (2001)). It questions the scenario of societal breakdown due to HIV/AIDS by asking how the traditional safety net operates, nature of solutions to the OVC problem it provides and its sustainability. No geographical region in Ghana has been so affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic than the Manya Krobo District in Ghana. While analysing the role of the work of the Manya Krobo Queen Mothers’ Association (QMA) and five private caregivers, the perceptions of three OVC are presented: on how it is to be an OVC, what their dreams and hopes are for the future, and their awareness of HIV/AIDS. It is observed that even though the QMA serves as a good role model for how to address the OVC problem, it has its limitations. The traditional extended family system is under pressure, but not about to break down. As the effectiveness of its support will depend on the contribution of the wider Ghanaian society, localised solutions have to be scaled up to make an impact. Thus, the breakdown scenario needs to be nuanced and contextualised. The vulnerability of the local place under study relates to unemployment and migration, economic poverty and social–cultural marginalisation. These factors are intertwined with the HIV/AIDS epidemic.     

Absencing/presencing risk: Rethinking proximity and the experience of living with major technological hazards

There is now a substantial body of sociocultural research that has investigated the ways in which specific communities living in physical proximity with a variety of polluting or hazardous technological installations experience and respond to their exposure to the associated risk. Much of this research has sought to understand the apparent acceptance or acquiescence displayed by local populations towards established hazards of the kind that are typically resisted when the subject of siting proposals. However, recent theoretical contributions, produced largely outside the field of risk research, have problematised the objective distinction between proximity and distance. In this paper we explore the potential of some of these ideas for furthering our understanding of the relationship between place and the constitution of risk subjectivities. To do this we re-examine a number of existing sociocultural studies that are predicated on a localised approach and conceptualise the relationship of physically proximate sources of risk to everyday experience in terms of practices of ‘presencing’ and ‘absencing’. We conclude with some thoughts on the methodological and substantive implications of this reworking of proximity for future research into risk subjectivities.     

一种通过地形指数计算流域蓄水容量的方法

在概念性分布式水文模型中,单元格蓄水容量的确定成为一个难题。考虑到单元格蓄水容量同地形指数之间的相似性,发现地形指数同蓄水容量间满足位移量为零的对数维布尔分布函数,建立了地形指数同单元格蓄水容量之间的函数关系,从而可通过单元格地形指数求取单元格的蓄水容量,在一定程度上解决了分布式水文模型中产流参数的离散化问题。     

Bearing capacity of strip foundations with structural skirts

A modified bearing capacity equation is proposed for skirted strip foundations on dense sand. A series of tests on foundation models were carried out to study the factors that affect the bearing capacity of foundations with skirts. Several factors including foundation base friction, skirt depth, skirt side roughness, skirt stiffness and soil compressibility were studied and incorporated in the equation. The results obtained from the proposed equation were compared with the results obtained from Terzaghi, Meyerhof, Hansen and Vesic bearing capacity equations for foundations without skirt. Comparison shows that the use of structural skirts can improve the bearing capacity by a factor of 1.5 to 3.9 depending on the geometrical and structural properties of the skirts and foundation, soil characteristics and interface conditions of the soil-skirt-foundation system. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Isolation and characterization of metal-resistant bacterial strain from wastewater and evaluation of its capacity in metal-ions removal using living and dry bacterial cells

A novel strain of the genus Micrococcus isolated from wastewater was studied for resistance to seven heavy metals and forty antibiotics. Its capacity to accumulate metal ions was also realized at different pH. The strain exhibited high minimal inhibitory concentration values for metal ions tested and resist to 15 antibiotics. The living cells of the bacterial strain show a largest uptake capacity at pH 6–8.5 for copper, nickel, and zinc with values ranging from 51.45 to 83.90 %, 52.59 to 78.81 %, and 59.55 to 78.90 %, respectively. It was also able to absorbed 59.81–80.08 % of chromium and 58.09–79.41 % of cobalt at pH 7.3–8.5. The maximum lead uptake was obtained at pH 5.5–8.5 with an amount of 55.28–91.06 %. The significant absorption of cadmium was shown at pH 6.5 with 38 %. In 25 µg mL-1 zinc, chromium, and nickel solutions, dead cells of the isolate were able to biosorbed 20.46, 22.5, and 23.98 µg mL^?1, respectively, after 30 min of contact. In other solutions with higher concentrations 50 and 100 µg mL^?1, the amount of each metal immobilized was, respectively, as follows: 38.02 and 90.21 µg mL^?1 for zinc, 39.78 and 89.23 µg mL^?1 for chromium, and 47.19 and 86.83 µg mL^?1 for nickel. Due to its high-metal accumulation capacity in aerobic conditions, these Gram-positive bacteria may be potentially applicable in situ bioremediation of heavy metals contaminating aqueous systems.     

几种铁（氢）氧化物对溶液中磷的吸附作用对比研究

铁(氢)氧化物不仅是土壤中广泛存在的矿物,也是重要的矿物资源。表生地质作用形成的针铁矿、赤铁矿和无定形氢氧化铁都具有纳米尺度,具有很高的表面积,表现出对磷的专性吸附,是低浓度磷的潜在吸附材料。本文通过铁(氢)氧化物对水溶液中磷酸根的等温吸附实验,初步对比研究了针铁矿、合成氧化铁黄、赤铁矿和无定形氢氧化铁对水中低浓度磷的吸附作用。结果表明,无定形氢氧化铁对水溶液中磷酸根的吸附能力最强(对低浓度磷的吸附达到5.5mg/g),其次是氧化铁黄和针铁矿,赤铁矿的吸附能力最差。几种铁(氢)氧化物对磷吸附容量的差别主要受比表面积控制。无定形氢氧化铁、合成氧化铁黄、针铁矿、赤铁矿对磷的吸附符合Freundlich等温方程。针铁矿和赤铁矿对磷的吸附动力学符合双常数速率方程。