Fighting tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS in Northeast Europe: sustainable collaboration or political rhetoric?

Rowe, Lars; Rechel, Bernd

doi:10.1093/eurpub/ckl027

Cited by 7 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…Overall in Russia, however, federal authorities continue to be deeply suspicious of harm reduction initiatives (15,40). It is therefore also the support of the federal agencies that Western agencies will need to secure to achieve sustainable impact (41). Furthermore, more needs to be documented on challenges to HIV programmes in other countries of the former Soviet Union.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

HIV/AIDS in the Countries of the Former Soviet Union: Societal and Attitudinal Challenges

Rechel¹

2010

Cent Eur J Public Health

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For several years, some of the countries of the former Soviet Union have experienced the fastest growing HIV epidemic in the world, with the vast majority of reported infections contracted through injecting drug use. However, most governments of the region have been slow to recognize the severity of the problem. The scope and coverage of governmental HIV/AIDS programmes have remained very limited. Harm reduction programmes are mainly financed by external donors, while substitution treatment remains illegal in Russia and unavailable in some other countries of the region. Being based on a review of published and grey literature, this paper explores attitudinal and societal barriers to scaling up HIV programmes in the countries of the former Soviet Union. A major challenge in many countries is negative public attitudes towards people living with HIV, as well as towards those most at risk of contracting the disease: injecting drug users, sex workers, and men who have sex with men. This extends to the actions of state authorities which often pursue a punitive approach to drug users, with high rates of incarceration for minor drug offences. While many of the findings reported here relate to the Russian Federation, there is reason to believe that similar challenges exist in many other countries of the former Soviet Union. More needs to be done to document challenges to HIV prevention and treatment programmes across the region, so that policy interventions can be more effective.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

HIV/AIDS in the Countries of the Former Soviet Union: Societal and Attitudinal Challenges

Rechel¹

2010

Cent Eur J Public Health

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“…This section develops a theoretical framework to assess the impact of World Bank funding on the performance of health care sectors in Central and Eastern European countries. Although some authors have sought to examine the process and impact of international organization lending on the transitional economies, as well as the impact of the transition on the health care sector of these economies (Brainerd and Cutler, 2006;Davis, 2001;Ensor, 2004;Howell, 1998;Kornai, 2000;Kornai and Eggleston, 2001;Zecchini, 1995), and others have looked at the formation of new cross-country task forces (such as the Baltic Sea task force) that were formed to deal with the decline of health standards in the CEECs and the re-emergence of old and emergence of new infectious diseases since the early 1990s Rowe, 2004, 2005;Rowe and Rechel, 2006), overall the literature describing the impact of international organizations on health care reforms is scarce in general, and almost non-existent with regards to transitional economies.…”

Section: The World Bank and Health Carementioning

confidence: 99%

World Bank Funding and Health Care Sector Performance in Central and Eastern Europe

Radin

2008

International Political Science Review

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This article looks at the impact of World Bank funding on health care sector performance in Central and Eastern European countries. The World Bank has been one of few organizations involved in health care sector assistance in these nations during the transition period, mainly through funds disbursement. This article tests hypotheses that those countries that perform better economically, that are more favorably evaluated by the World Bank, and that have more effective institutions are also more likely to benefi t from World Bank assistance, through improvements in the performance of their health care sectors.

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“…The Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish policy development is reflected by increasing regional Nordic-Baltic Sea and EU attention to the area of communicable diseases. During recent years, a number of inter-regional initiatives and programmes have been set up to jointly tackle the health development in the Nordic-Baltic Sea region's eastern shores, such as the Task Force on Communicable Disease Control in the Baltic Sea Region, and its successor, the Northern Dimension Partnership in Public Health and Social Well-being, which was established in 2003 [5,6]. Also, the EU has recently strengthened its responses to European communicable disease challenges [7], including its disease-specific networks for epidemiological surveillance and system for early warning and response, by setting up a European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) to further coordinate and enhance EU capacity [8].…”

Section: Communicable Disease Policy Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Communicable disease policy development in response to changing European political frontiers in Finland, Norway and Sweden

Bernitz

2008

Scand J Public Health

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Aims: The European Union (EU) enlargement of 2004 brings both opportunities and challenges for public health. It is believed that further integration will bring direct health benefits, mainly through improved socioeconomic conditions, but there are also risks associated with the EU expansion, in particular cross-border health risks, such as the impact of the internal EU market policy of free movement and migration on communicable disease patterns. Against this background, this article examines communicable disease policy development in Finland, Norway and Sweden in response to changing European political frontiers, in particular the EU accession of the Baltic States. The emphasis is on HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis. Methods: The study is based on a qualitative and quantitative approach, using two complementary methods: documentary analysis and stakeholder analysis. Results: The article identifies a distinct pattern in communicable disease policy development between 1990 and 2005. The turn of the new millennium saw a sharp increase in national attention and the priority assigned to communicable diseases in Finland, Norway and Sweden. The article argues that this development is likely to be related to the rising national, regional and European awareness of the public health challenges associated with communicable diseases in today's borderless Europe. It also shows that the Baltic health situation is a particular concern for Finland. Conclusions: Although there is increasing national and regional activity within the communicable disease area, there is a need for a more effective European approach to tackle the future communicable disease challenges that may follow in an increasingly interdependent and integrated Europe.

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Fighting tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS in Northeast Europe: sustainable collaboration or political rhetoric?

Cited by 7 publications

References 2 publications

HIV/AIDS in the Countries of the Former Soviet Union: Societal and Attitudinal Challenges

HIV/AIDS in the Countries of the Former Soviet Union: Societal and Attitudinal Challenges

World Bank Funding and Health Care Sector Performance in Central and Eastern Europe

Communicable disease policy development in response to changing European political frontiers in Finland, Norway and Sweden

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