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LAW, POLICY & ETHICS

Microfinance & Beyond: Structural Interventions Promoting Economic Opportunity as HIV Risk Reduction - July 27, 2007

Law, Policy and Ethics Mini-Conference
Front Row: Laura Nelson, Dale Stratford, Flora Cornish
Second Row: Susan Sherman, Shari Dworkin, Paromita Sanyal, Beth Osborne Daponte, Monica Biradavolu, Kim Ashburn, Cynthia Sanders, Jennifer Ruger, Jason Globerman
Third Row: Kristi McClamroch, Amy Smoyer, Scott Burris, Kim Blankenship, Sarah Hanck, Brooke West, Robb Travers
On July 27, 2007, the Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS (CIRA)'s Law, Policy and Ethics (LPE) Core and Project Parivartan convened a one-day mini-conference to bring together HIV prevention and microfinance (MF) researchers from a number of disciplines. The purpose of the meeting was to strategize about the role that structural interventions aimed at improving economic opportunity, in particular MF programs, can play in HIV prevention and overall health promotion both in the developed and developing world. Specifically, the event focused on the strengths and limitations, successes and failures, of MF initiatives; research gaps and research priorities in understanding HIV and health related impacts; and alternative interventions for addressing economic vulnerability that have the potential to impact on HIV risk.

Statement of Purpose and Goals:

It is clear that gender inequality is a major contextual force driving the global HIV/AIDS pandemic. This inequality manifests itself in many different ways; with women's economic vulnerability and lack of economic power being among the most critical. Structural interventions, which promote HIV prevention by addressing the context that produces risk, have the potential to challenge women's economic vulnerability and limited power, thereby reducing the spread of HIV. To the extent that they provide greater financial security and economic power, microfinance (MF) initiatives may represent one such structural intervention. Still, while MF initiatives, taking a variety of different specific forms, have been implemented in the developing country context and in the United States, much remains unknown about their impact on health in general, and HIV in particular. What are the strengths and limitations, successes and failures, of MF initiatives? Where are the research gaps and research priorities in understanding their HIV and health related impacts? Are there alternative interventions for addressing economic vulnerability and providing economic opportunity with greater potential to impact on HIV risk? We have convened a group of experts in both research and implementation, from a range of disciplinary backgrounds, to discuss precisely these issues, and hopefully, in so doing, to move the field forward by identifying critical research questions and establishing potential research collaborations among participants. Among the specific goals of this mini-conference were:
  1. Summarizing the state of knowledge and practice regarding microfinance initiatives in both the developing world and the United States, with a particular emphasis on their health-related impacts;
  2. Identifying gaps in knowledge and discussing potential research to address these gaps, with a focus on the application of microfinance in HIV prevention in particular and promoting better health in general;
  3. Brainstorming about new approaches for addressing economic vulnerability so as to promote HIV prevention that build on the lessons learned from microfinance initiatives;
  4. Producing an analytical paper based on the mini-conference aimed at moving the field of structural interventions in HIV prevention research forward;
  5. Promoting research on microfinance and other interventions promoting economic opportunity/empowerment, especially as they may relate to HIV prevention and other health outcomes, by facilitating collaborations among conference participants.

Participant Bios:

  1. Microsoft Word (DOC)
  2. Acrobat (PDF)

Conference Reports:

  1. Can Microenterprise Programs Reduce HIV Risk in the United States?
  2. Can Microfinance Programs Reduce HIV Risk in Developing Countries?

Program:

Session I: Microfinance Program Implementation and Impact

In this two-part morning session, we considered such issues as: What are some of the different ways that microfinance programs have been implemented? What impacts have they had and what factors have accounted for these impacts? What similarities and differences are there in the implementation and impact of MF initiatives domestically (in the U.S.) and in developing countries? Panelists were asked to provide some comments, based on their work and experiences that can serve as a starting point for addressing some of these questions.

Session II: Microfinance and Beyond: Research Gaps and Opportunities for Collaboration

Picking up on the presentations and discussion in the morning session, this afternoon session focused on lessons learned from MF programs and research in different contexts. We discussed research gaps and future priorities, including alternatives to MF initiatives that may have the potential to reduce HIV risk by addressing economic vulnerability, and related research needs and priorities. We also considered critical issues in the design of scientifically rigorous research to address these questions. Brief comments from our panelists helped to get these discussions going.

  • Microfinance, Economic Opportunity, and HIV: Research Gaps, Priorities, and Design
    Panelists: Dale Stratford, Beth Osborne Daponte
    Chair: Kim M. Blankenship
    Presentations:
  • Summary and Next Steps
    We will consider the implications of our discussions throughout the day for the development of future collaborations. Where do we go from here? How can public health researchers build collaborative relationships with program implementers to better understand the potential impacts of MF and other structural interventions aimed at promoting economic opportunity? What are the immediate, medium, and long term needs for advancing a research and action agenda?

* This conference is co-sponsored by the Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS (CIRA) through a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (P30 MH 62294, P Cleary, PI), and Project Parivartan, through a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (30183, K Blankenship, PI).

To learn more about Project Parivartan, click here.
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