“AIDS is Not a Business”: A Study in Global Corporate Responsibility – Securing Access to Low-cost HIV Medications

At the end of the 1990s, Brazil was faced with a potentially explosive HIV/AIDS epidemic. Through an innovative and multifaceted campaign, and despite initial resistance from multinational pharmaceutical companies, the government of Brazil was able to negotiate price reductions for HIV medications and develop local production capacity, thereby averting a public health disaster. Using interview data and document analysis, the authors show that the exercise of corporate social responsibility can be viewed in practice as a dynamic negotiation and an interaction between multiple actors. Action undertaken in terms of voluntary CSR alone may be insufficient. This finding highlights the importance of a strong role for national governments and international organizations to pressure companies to perform better. William Flanagan is the Dean of Law at Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario. His research interests include international trade and investment, and corporate law and corporate governance. Gail Whiteman is Assistant Professor in the Department of Business and Society of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University, The Netherlands.     

Young tourists visiting strip clubs and paying for sex

Little is known about young adults’ use of strip clubs and prostitution during their holidays abroad. This study examined this issue with a sample of 1125 Danish tourists between the ages of 16 and 34, and sought data about the frequency with which they paid for sex and attended strip clubs while they were on holiday. The tourists were surveyed at a Bulgarian airport before their return trip home. The incidence of strip-club patronage during holiday was 48% for men and 8% for women. Of the men, 12.5% reported paying for sex during their holiday. Among the men paying for sex, 47% reported having done it for the first time. Among the men who attended strip clubs, 32% reported having done it for the first time. Strip-club patronage and paying for sex were both associated with higher levels of drinking, use of Viagra^®, and with having done the same thing before the holiday. Paying for sex was uniquely associated with non-use of condoms with one or more sexual partners. The results of this study can be interpreted as part of a wider culture of commodified debauchery, which predominates many nightlife resorts.     

HIV/AIDS AND BANKING STABILITY IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

We argue that the recent large increase in deposits’ turnover in many developing countries with high HIV/AIDS prevalence is associated with the spread of the disease. The point is that the need to pay for individual treatments force large‐scale withdrawals of households’ deposits, and that those large withdrawals put the banking industry at risk. In a standard demand‐deposit model where the HIV/AIDS prevalence among depositors is random, we show that (1) the probability of a large‐scale banking failure without a bank run increases as the odds of any prevalence level increases, and (2) it is always optimal to deposit, and thus to accept the risk of banking failure, to maintain long‐term investments in place.     

获得性免疫缺陷综合征并发动眼神经麻痹的临床特征

目的观察就诊于眼科的获得性免疫缺陷综合征并发单侧动眼神经麻痹的眼部表现、系统特征和治疗情况。方法回顾分析4例4眼艾滋病并发单侧动眼神经麻痹患者的眼部表现、视敏度、色觉检查、上睑下垂程度、瞳孔及眼外肌受累、复视情况;CD4+T淋巴细胞计数,给予口服高效抗逆转录病毒药物治疗联合抗病毒药物治疗,随诊观察2～6个月。结果初诊时检查,视敏度2眼为6/9,1眼为6/18,1眼为6/36;色觉检查均正常;上睑下垂3例为重度,1例为中度;瞳孔扩大固定,直径为5～7mm;水平性复视,眼球处于外转位,外转正常、不能向上、下、内转动,CD4+T淋巴细胞计数1例为200个/ul,3例介于100～200个/ul之间;经高效抗逆转录病毒药物治疗后CD4+T淋巴细胞计数上升到≥300个/ul。结论排除颅内、眶内占位,其他因素所致脑梗塞,对不明原因的单眼动眼神经麻痹患者,建议作血清人类免疫缺陷病毒(Human immunodeficiency virus,HIV)抗体检测,避免漏诊误诊。     

Incompetency training: Theory, practice, and remedies

“Incompetency training” includes formal and informal instruction that consciously (purposively) or unconsciously imparts knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and behavior (including procedures) that are useless, inaccurate, misleading, and/or will lower performance outcomes of the trainee versus no training or training using alternative training methods. “Imparts” in the definition refers to exposing a trainee to incompetency training; such exposure is not a guarantee that the training increases the trainee's incompetence. This editorial is to stimulate research interest among scholars in incompetency training theory, evidence, and the efficacy of remedies. The editorial offers an early workbench model of incompetency training theory. The theory includes the proposition that executives and associates in firms, academia, and government organizations consciously as well as unknowingly offer incompetency training in many contexts. Increasing trainees' vigilance and ability to recognize exposure to incompetency-training may help trainees to decrease the effectiveness (impact) of exposures to incompetency training—advancing incompetency training theory and knowledge of incompetency training practice may be necessary conditions for remedying negative outcomes that follow from trainees receiving such training. Available evidence supports the first proposition and, to a limited extent, the second proposition.     

普通人群对艾滋病态度干预效果的多水平分析

为评估联合国人口基金第六周期项目对艾滋病态度的干预效果,根据2006-2010年基线/终线以及项目/对照四项调查获得的数据,运用多水平逻辑斯蒂回归模型对普通人群针对艾滋病态度进行回归分析。终线调查中对与艾滋病患者接触持积极态度的几率是基线的1.632倍,项目县对艾滋病患者持积极态度的几率是对照县的1.846倍。通过项目的干预,普通群众对艾滋病患者的态度出现了积极的改变,省间仍然存在着差异,但这种差异正在减小。     

AIDS treatment and intrahousehold resource allocation: Children's nutrition and schooling in Kenya

The provision of antiretroviral medications is a central component of the response to HIV/AIDS and consumes substantial public resources from around the world, but little is known about this intervention's impact on the welfare of children in treated persons' households. Using longitudinal survey data from Kenya, we examine the relationship between the provision of treatment to adults and the schooling and nutrition outcomes of children in their households. Weekly hours of school attendance increase by over 20% within 6 months after treatment is initiated for the adult patient. We find some weak evidence that young children's short-term nutritional status also improves. These results suggest how intrahousehold allocations of time and resources may be altered in response to health improvements of adults.