RESUMO
Some of the important policy and research implications of accumulating HIV/AIDS data are being ignored because of the attraction of social science research focused on the "multiple sexual mechanism' of infection and transmission. Attention is drawn to the other policy and research issues relating to information on the timing of infection through a reanalysis of existing data on cumulative AIDS cases. The most urgent need is to supplement the mainstream research on risk groups with studies of the timing and circumstances of entry into sexual activity in the pre-teen years.
PIP: Some of the important policy and research implications of HIV/AIDS data are being ignored because of the focus of social science research upon the multiple sexual mechanism of infection and transmission. Attention is drawn to the other policy and research issues relating to information on the timing of infection through a re-analysis of existing data on cumulative AIDS cases. However, the most urgent need is to supplement the mainstream research on risk groups with studies of the timing and circumstances of entry into sexual activity during the pre-teen years. The authors comment upon the social science response to the epidemic. This paper was written to help broaden the scope of discussion of the socioeconomic context of the rapid reproduction of infections and to focus upon the role of pre-teen girl-child sexuality in the dynamics of the epidemic.
