What Is the Evidence That There Is No Evidence? The Link Between Conflict, Displacement and HIV Infections

Seckinelgin, Hakan

doi:10.1057/ejdr.2010.20

Cited by 6 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 24 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Third, reflecting on the very uneven nature of the findings, we suggest that the goal of providing an over - arching statement of ‘the evidence’ for CM may itself be misguided [ 90 , 91 ]. Most obviously, we have noted that there is a different pattern of findings for sex workers and for youth and general communities.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of Community Mobilisation on HIV Prevention in Middle and Low Income Countries: A Systematic Review and Critique

et al. 2014

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

While community mobilisation (CM) is increasingly advocated for HIV prevention, its impact on measurable outcomes has not been established. We performed a systematic review of the impact of CM within HIV prevention interventions (N = 20), on biomedical, behavioural and social outcomes. Among most at risk groups (particularly sex workers), the evidence is somewhat consistent, indicating a tendency for positive impact, with stronger results for behavioural and social outcomes than for biomedical ones. Among youth and general communities, the evidence remains inconclusive. Success appears to be enhanced by engaging groups with a strong collective identity and by simultaneously addressing the socio-political context. We suggest that the inconclusiveness of the findings reflects problems with the evidence, rather than indicating that CM is ineffective. We discuss weaknesses in the operationalization of CM, neglect of social context, and incompatibility between context-specific CM processes and the aspiration of review methodologies to provide simple, context-transcending answers.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s10461-014-0748-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of Community Mobilisation on HIV Prevention in Middle and Low Income Countries: A Systematic Review and Critique

et al. 2014

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Thirdly, reflecting on the very uneven nature of the findings, we suggested that the goal of providing an over-arching statement of ‘the evidence’ for community mobilisation may itself be misguided (Seckinelgin 2010 ). The review revealed a different pattern of findings for sex workers and for youth and general communities.…”

Section: Case Study: Systematic Review Of Evidence On Community Mobilmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In a paper compellingly entitled ‘What is the evidence that there is no evidence?’, Hakan Seckinelgin ( 2010 ) provides a detailed critique of the conclusion of ‘no evidence’ reached by a systematic review of evidence on the relation between conflict and HIV/AIDS. Seckinelgin questions the types of data that are deemed to comprise evidence, namely quantitatively sophisticated studies designed to eliminate ‘bias’.…”

Section: Systematic Review: Three Problems For Context-sensitive Procmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence synthesis in international development: a critique of systematic reviews and a pragmatist alternative

Cornish

2015

Anthropology & Medicine

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Systematic reviews are an instrument of Evidence-Based Policy designed to produce comprehensive, unbiased, transparent and clear assessments of interventions’ effectiveness. From their origins in medical fields, systematic reviews have recently been promoted as offering important advances in a range of applied social science fields, including international development. Drawing on a case study of a systematic review of the effectiveness of community mobilisation as an intervention to tackle HIV/AIDS, this article problematises the use of systematic reviews to summarise complex and context-specific bodies of evidence. Social development interventions, such as ‘community mobilisation’ often take different forms in different interventions; are made successful by their situation in particular contexts, rather than being successful or unsuccessful universally; and have a rhetorical value that leads to the over-application of positively valued terms (e.g. ‘community mobilisation’), invalidating the keyword search process of a systematic review. The article suggests that the policy interest in definitive summary statements of ‘the evidence’ is at odds with academic assessments that evidence takes multiple, contradictory and complex forms, and with practitioner experience of the variability of practice in context. A pragmatist philosophy of evidence is explored as an alternative. Taking this approach implies expanding the definition of forms of research considered to be ‘useful evidence’ for evidence-based policy-making; decentralising decisions about ‘what works’ to allow for the use of local practical wisdom; and prioritising the establishment of good processes for the critical use of evidence, rather than producing context-insensitive summaries of ‘the evidence’.

show abstract

“…While such developments have led to a new understanding of security (Altman, 2003), some scholars argue that there is no convincing evidence for the assumed links between HIV/AIDS and security. Debate on whether convincing evidence exists to demonstrate the link between conflict and the spread of HIV remains ongoing (Barnett & Prins, 2005;Allen, 2006;Spiegel et al, 2007;Seckinelgin, 2010). There is also no question that engaging with the debates on the existence of such links or their absence is politically expedient within the context of international organizations and their HIV/AIDS policymaking processes.…”

Section: Context Of the Security And Hiv/aids Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Securitization of HIV/AIDS in Context: Gendered Vulnerability in Burundi

Seckinelgin

Bigirumwami

Morris³

2010

Security Dialogue

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this article, it is argued that concerns about the impact of HIV/AIDS on national and international security do not adequately address the ways in which people, particularly women, are made vulnerable to HIV/AIDS in conflicts. In fact, policies inspired by the security framing of HIV/AIDS can engender new vulnerabilities in post-conflict contexts. The article analyses the ways in which gender relations create vulnerabilities for various groups when such relations are put under pressure during periods of conflict. Drawing on research conducted in Burundi, the article argues that postulated links between security and HIV/AIDS fail to take into account the vulnerability structures that exist in societies, the ways in which these are instrumentalized during conflict and in post-conflict contexts, and how they are also maintained and changed as a result of people’s experiences during conflict.

show abstract

What Is the Evidence That There Is No Evidence? The Link Between Conflict, Displacement and HIV Infections

Cited by 6 publications

References 24 publications

The impact of Community Mobilisation on HIV Prevention in Middle and Low Income Countries: A Systematic Review and Critique

The impact of Community Mobilisation on HIV Prevention in Middle and Low Income Countries: A Systematic Review and Critique

Evidence synthesis in international development: a critique of systematic reviews and a pragmatist alternative

Securitization of HIV/AIDS in Context: Gendered Vulnerability in Burundi

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About