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Factors Driving the HIV Epidemic in Southern Africa

  • The Global Epidemic (SH Vermund, Section Editor)
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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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  1. Centre 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 R. McKinnon & Quarraisha Abdool Karim

  2. Department of Medical Microbiology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada

    Lyle R. McKinnon

  3. Department of Epidemiology, Columbia University, New York, USA

    Quarraisha Abdool Karim

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  1. Lyle R. McKinnon
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McKinnon, L.R., Karim, Q.A. Factors Driving the HIV Epidemic in Southern Africa. Curr HIV/AIDS Rep 13, 158–169 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11904-016-0314-z

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