Disability and HIV: Vulnerability of People With Disabilities to HIV Infection in Sub-Saharan Africa

Summary

According to the recent World Report on Disability, around 15% of the world population lives with a disability and 80% of people with disabilities (PWD) live in developing countries. More and more evidence show that PWD are more likely to be poor, vulnerable to physical and sexual violence, and to have less access to education. Therefore, PWD are likely to have an increased risk for HIV infection, potentially being a key population in regard to this epidemic.

The vulnerability of PWD was recognized in 2007 by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. However, data on the extent how PWD are affected by HIV is still very limited. As a result, PWD are usually overlooked by National AIDS Control Programmes and few projects specifically targeting them have been developed.

Recognizing the need for appropriate and reliable data to help protect the rights of PWD and achieve a better inclusion of disability in National AIDS Control Programmes, the Institute of Research for Development (IRD), the Institut de Formation et Recherche Demographique (IFORD) and Handicap International (HI) propose this study that aims to provide quantitative and qualitative data on the vulnerability of PWD to HIV infection in Cameroon and Burkina Faso, in order to define if this vulnerable population is also a Key Population in relation to the HIV epidemic. This study adopts a multidisciplinary approach (quantitative and qualitative methods). Quantitative data are collected only in Cameroon.

Only the quantitative study is described here.

Conditions

• HIV
• Reproductive Health
• Disability

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Handicap International

  collaborator OTHER

• Institut de Recherche pour le Developpement

  collaborator OTHER_GOV

• Institut de Formation et de Recherche Démographique

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Forum Camerounais de Psychologie

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Centre de Recherche Internationale pour la Santé de l'Université de Ouagadougou

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• ANRS, Emerging Infectious Diseases

  lead OTHER_GOV

Principal Investigators

• Pierre DE BEAUDRAP, MD, PhD · Institut de Recherche pour le Developpement (IRD)

• Gervais BENINGISSE, PhD · Institut de Formation et Recherche Demographique (IFORD)

Eligibility

Min Age

15 Years

Max Age

49 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2014-11-30

Primary Completion

2015-12-31

Completion

2016-07-31

Countries

• Cameroon

Study Locations