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The history of the response to HIV/AIDS has developed in four phases. The first global AIDS strategy by WHO in 1986-87 defined HIV/AIDS in terms of individual risk behaviors. Specification of risk behaviors as a central concern led to risk-reduction programs which were designed to change individual behaviors. As the individual behavior based approach to prevention developed concerns regarding societal behaviors arose. Insights on how to analyze and address the societal basis of vulnerability to HIV/AIDS evolved from two major lines of reasoning and experience: 1) as national and community HIV epidemics matured societal-level risk factor was identified; 2) womens ability to effectuate free and informed choices about their sexual behavior was strongly linked to their roles and status in the society. Public health drew on the human rights framework to analyze societally based vulnerability and to guide efforts at societal transformation. Viewing the contribution of societal factors to vulnerability to HIV/AIDS through a rights perspective disaggregates the societal issues into discrete elements. The most recent phase in the evolving understanding of HIV/AIDS is to see human behavior as a blend of individual characteristics and a societal context defined by human rights.
Mann et al. (Thu,) studied this question.