Abstract

BERBESI FERNANDEZ, Dedsy Yajaira  and  SEGURA CARDONA, Ángela. Vulnerability to HIV: A Systematic Review. Investig. andina [online]. 2014, vol.16, n.28, pp.964-977. ISSN 0124-8146.

Introduction: vulnerability is a concept used in different fields and disciplines. The relevance of this concept for health and epidemiology, is the fact that the inclusion of this category allows a better understanding of individual and contextual determinants for the health-disease process . Objective: the aim's of this article is to review the implementation of the concept of vulnerability and its operationalization in the HIV field. Methodology: a systematic review was performed. The inclusion criteria were 1) jobs in which the vulnerability to HIV, was analyzed and clearly and specifically operationalized. 2) works which used the vulnerability to HIV as an independent or dependent variable, and 3 ) works which will contibute to original empirical data, discarding theoretical work to appear only in the concept of vulnerability to HIV , the latter were not taken into account systematically for further discussion on the findings of the review. The strategy for search included the following terms : [ "social AND HIV Vulnerability ," " Health Vulnerability AND HIV ," " HIV AND Vulnerable Groups ", " Vulnerability Analysis and HIV ," " HIV and Vulnerability Study "] . [" Vulnerability AND HIV ," " Health Vulnerability AND HIV ," " HIV Vulnerability Analysis AND " " AND HIV Vulnerability Study "] . Conclusion: the current paradigm attempts to overcome the biological perspective , recognizing that to understand the behavior of the HIV as an epidemy , are fundamental to study the social, political, economic and cultural conditions of the people . We identified gaps in the literature, such as the lack of unification when operationalize the concept of vulnerability to HIV. Although there are theoretical models of vulnerability to HIV , the unification of this concept is identified, and is required to advance in the investigation.

Keywords : Social Vulnerability; Health Vulnerability; Risk Groups; Vulnerability Analysis; Vulnerability Study; Epidemiology.

        · abstract in Spanish | Portuguese     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )