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Social Contexts of Heterosexual Transmission of HIV/STI in Liuzhou City, China

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Abstract

In this special issue of AIDS and Behavior, we focus on the social contexts of sexual transmission of HIV/STI in one South China city. Our multiple projects grew from partnerships across the social and biomedical sciences, and with public health experts in Liuzhou City, to address critical gaps in knowledge about how social factors drive heterosexual transmission. The eleven articles that comprise this special issue feature multidisciplinary and mixed method approaches, collecting data in Liuzhou from different populations, environments, and social venues where individuals often find sexual partners. They document heterosexual behaviors and their meanings. They investigate the experiences and behaviors of women and men in social venues, exploring the networks of people within these venues, how they relate to one another, share information, and influence each other. The articles also examine the experiences of people living with HIV, again collecting data from multiple levels and sources, and revealing the ongoing power of stigma to shape these lives. Taken together, the articles demonstrate the critical role of social contexts in shaping behaviors and meanings, which are linked to heterosexual transmission of HIV/STI, and which must be taken into account for the development of appropriate and effective public health interventions.

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Notes

  1. The survey was initiated as a methodological comparison of venue-based (PLACE) and respondent-driven sampling approaches, simultaneously surveying FSW in Liuzhou from 2009 to 2010 [40]

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Acknowledgements

With multiple research projects and training workshops that took place over more than 6 years, there are many individuals and organizations to acknowledge. The R24 grant, ‘Partnership for Social Science Research on HIV/AIDS in China,’ (R24 HD056670) was awarded in 2007 by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Development and overseen by Susan Newcomer, our very special and talented program officer. Additional funding for the PLACE surveys was awarded by USAID under the terms of cooperative agreements GPO-A-00-03-00003-00 and GPO-A-00-09-00003-0, and by the National Center for STD Control in China. Other funding was provided by the Center for AIDS Research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) (P30-AI50410), the UNC AIDS International Training and Research Program 5D43TW001039, and the Population Research Infrastructure Program awarded to the Carolina Population Center at UNC (R24 HD050924). Investigators at three institutions were part of the R24 application at its inception, from UNC (Gail Henderson, Jane Brown, Myron Cohen, Irene Doherty, Carol Golin, Suzanne Maman, Ron Strauss, Sohini Sengupta, Sharon Weir, and Zhao Xinshu); the Renmin University of China (Pan Suiming and Huang Yingying); and the Nanjing National Center for STD Control (Chen Xiangsheng and Yin Yuepan). None of our work would have been possible without ongoing collaboration and support from the Liuzhou Health Bureau, Liuzhou CDC (Li Mingqiang and Zhang Yingxia). Valuable assistance was also provided by leaders from the Er Kong Hospital, Kong Fandan and Qin Meirong. Our R24 conferences and training workshops enjoyed contributions from many interdisciplinary experts (Guan Jian, Li Dun, Li Liu, Jing Jun, Joseph Lau, Wang Ning, Wang Ruotao, Weng Naiqun, Wu Zunyou, Yang Yi, and Zhuang Kongshao). Over the years, others joined our research team (Lisa Hightow-Weidman, M. Giovanna Merli, Kathryn Muessig, Jiang Ning, William Parish, Chiryath Suchindran, and Joseph Tucker). Six individuals received developmental awards from our R24 grant, and led commissioned studies in Liuzhou: Gu Jing, Hua Juxiang, Liu Qian, Wang Wenqing, Zhang Yingxia, and Zhang Youcun. Graduate students from all our institutions were engaged in a variety of ways, including data collection, analysis, and preparing papers for publication, and many are now in postdoctoral, faculty, or related positions (Laurie Abler, Matthew Avery, Bu Jin, Du Juan, Jessie K. Edwards, Fu Xiaoxing, Anisha Gandhi, Li Jing, Lu Shirong, Luo Qianlai, M. Kumi Smith, Wang Xin, Yao Xingliang, Yuan Lei, Zhang Lei, Zhang Na, and Zhang Nan). Catherine B. Emrick and Malena Rousseau contributed wonderful skills in manuscript editing and preparation. Anonymous reviewers for each of the eleven articles in this special issue greatly improved their quality. Lastly, and above all, we owe a great debt of gratitude to the individuals who participated in our studies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Social Medicine, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, 333 South Columbia St., 347 MacNider, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599-7240, USA

    Gail Henderson

  2. Department of Health Behavior, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, USA

    Suzanne Maman & Kathryn Muessig

  3. Department of Sociology, Renmin University, Beijing, China

    Yingying Huang & Suiming Pan

Authors
  1. Gail Henderson
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  2. Suzanne Maman
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  3. Yingying Huang
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  4. Kathryn Muessig
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  5. Suiming Pan
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Correspondence to Gail Henderson.

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Henderson, G., Maman, S., Huang, Y. et al. Social Contexts of Heterosexual Transmission of HIV/STI in Liuzhou City, China. AIDS Behav 18 (Suppl 2), 111–117 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-013-0666-y

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