134 research outputs found
Reframing HIV treatment as prevention in eSwatini:Transformations of a public health intervention in context
No full textThis dissertation provides an ethnographic account of the contextualization of a global health strategy, referred to as HIV ‘Treatment as Prevention’ (TasP), which advocates the early initiation of antiretroviral therapy by HIV-positive people as soon as possible upon diagnosis, to improve individual health outcomes and decrease HIV transmission in populations. As one of the anthropological researchers working within an implementation study evaluating TasP in the Kingdom of eSwatini (formerly Swaziland) between 2012 and 2018, Eva Vernooij examined how the intervention was shaped ‘in situ’ – through its implementation. Taking a critically applied medical anthropology approach, she highlights the local framings of biomedical knowledge by national-level policymakers, local health workers and community-based actors (people living with HIV and support group members), and shows how these framings shape and reshape what a global public health intervention comes to be. Studying the contextualization of TasP, and associated interventions, at three different levels (in policy-making, within the health system, and in study communities) the dissertation reveals what is at stake for differently positioned actors, including anthropologists, in their engagements with global health interventions. Couched in between anthropology and public health, the dissertation seeks to contribute new insights to medical anthropology, as well as public health research, about how contexts and interventions reciprocally shape each other, and how this can be investigated through the integration of ethnographic research within the rapidly growing field of implementation science in global health
Reframing HIV treatment as prevention in eSwatini:Transformations of a public health intervention in context
No full textThis dissertation provides an ethnographic account of the contextualization of a global health strategy, referred to as HIV ‘Treatment as Prevention’ (TasP), which advocates the early initiation of antiretroviral therapy by HIV-positive people as soon as possible upon diagnosis, to improve individual health outcomes and decrease HIV transmission in populations. As one of the anthropological researchers working within an implementation study evaluating TasP in the Kingdom of eSwatini (formerly Swaziland) between 2012 and 2018, Eva Vernooij examined how the intervention was shaped ‘in situ’ – through its implementation. Taking a critically applied medical anthropology approach, she highlights the local framings of biomedical knowledge by national-level policymakers, local health workers and community-based actors (people living with HIV and support group members), and shows how these framings shape and reshape what a global public health intervention comes to be. Studying the contextualization of TasP, and associated interventions, at three different levels (in policy-making, within the health system, and in study communities) the dissertation reveals what is at stake for differently positioned actors, including anthropologists, in their engagements with global health interventions. Couched in between anthropology and public health, the dissertation seeks to contribute new insights to medical anthropology, as well as public health research, about how contexts and interventions reciprocally shape each other, and how this can be investigated through the integration of ethnographic research within the rapidly growing field of implementation science in global health
Infrastructural Instability, Value, and Laboratory Work in a Public Hospital in Sierra Leone
No full textThis research article examines the relationship between infrastructural instability and laboratory work in a public referral hospital in Sierra Leone. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork conducted inside the hospital’s wards and clinical laboratory, I show how attending to infrastructure and materiality (i.e., laboratory spaces, diagnostic equipment, and supply chains) provides insight into the different kinds of value that laboratory work holds for laboratory technicians, clinicians, hospital administrators, and international donors. Through the case study of a newly arrived non-functioning diagnostic instrument, I reveal the institutional undervaluing of both the laboratory and the improvisation work performed by lab technicians to stabilise unstable equipment. Infrastructural instability in the laboratory enables the generation of new kinds of value, including economic and social value for laboratory technicians themselves, but undermines the clinical value of laboratory tests for clinicians and patients. By discussing the everyday practices, challenges, and meanings of laboratory work in a context of infrastructural instability, I aim to draw attention to the clinical laboratory space as a field site worthy of (more) anthropological inquiry and health systems research and contribute new insights about improvisation, instability, and diagnostic value creation in under-resourced settings
Navigating multipositionality in ‘insider’ ethnography
No full textIn this article, I reflect on my experience of conducting ‘insider’ ethnography in a multidisciplinary collaborative project that evaluates HIV treatment as prevention in Swaziland. Having worked as the project’s social science coordinator for over five years, I discuss balancing my role as an insider on the study team with studying the project as the object of my doctoral research. Drawing on field notes taken during the design and implementation of the project, I discuss how my proximity to the study team created certain expectations in my interactions with team members and clinic staff. In some instances, I distanced myself from the study by not participating or not supporting a consensus option; my doing so engendered a sense that I was being disloyal and sometimes created frustration among my colleagues. The multipositionality that I navigated was a product of social interactions and therefore inherently relational and intersubjective. This article aims to stimulate self-reflective and methodological discussions of how anthropologists engage in global health research and what kind of knowledge and subject positions such collaborations produce
UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository) Link to publication Citation for published version (APA)
No full textDo support groups members disclose less to their partners? The dynamics of HIV disclosure in four African countries Hardon, A.P.; Gomez, G.B.; Vernooij, E.E.; Desclaux, A.; Wanyenze, R.K.; Ky-Zerbo, O.; Kageha, E.; Namakhoma, I.; Kinsman, J.; Spronk, C.E.; Meij, E.J.; Neuman, M.; Obermeyer, C.M
Derivations and KMS-Symmetric Quantum Markov Semigroups
No full textWe prove that the generator of the implementation of a KMS-symmetric
quantum Markov semigroup can be expressed as the square of a derivation with
values in a Hilbert bimodule, extending earlier results by Cipriani and
Sauvageot for tracially symmetric semigroups and the second-named author for
GNS-symmetric semigroups. This result hinges on the introduction of a new
completely positive map on the algebra of bounded operators on the GNS Hilbert
space. This transformation maps symmetric Markov operators to symmetric Markov
operators and is essential to obtain the required inner product on the Hilbert
bimodule.Comment: 35 pages, implemented small changes based on reviewers comments.
Accepted in Communications in Mathematical Physic
Mistreated. The Political Consequences of the Fight against AIDS in Lesotho. Nora Kenworthy, Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 2017, 240 pp.
No full textA message for you: Tool design for creating a customer centric communication strategy
No full textThe world of telecom is changing rapidly. Access to internet has changed the way customers use their phone. To differentiate itself from competitors, increase customer satisfaction and willingness to stay, Vodafone introduced Smart Life products. These products add value to the standard contract of the customer. The Consumer Services (CS) department is responsible for the Smart Life products. Within the department CS marketers are responsible for the communication about the Smart Life products to the customers. But the communication does not seem to meet the value and benefits for the customer and therefore the customer does not activate the products. The problem found in the CS department was that the current communication strategy was product focussed and did not stimulate the customer to activate and use the Smart Life products. The CS marketers said that they lacked insight in customer values, did not knew who their customer was and that the communication strategy was not designed from a customer perspective. This resulted in the aim of the thesis: Make the CS marketers aware of a customer centric way of communicating towards a customer and support the CS marketer to design a customer centric communication strategy. To solve the problem two research questions were developed: 1, how to develop a more customer centric communication strategy. And 2, who is the Smart Life user? The research questions are answered by two qualitative researches: an internal research and an user research. The internal research investigated what factors influenced the current development process and what holds the CS marketer back from developing a customer centric communication strategy. The user research provided deep information about who the Smart Life user is and why the user uses a product. These insights of the researches are used to solve the problem in practice. The internal research obtained two focus areas where the communication strategy could be improved to be more customer centric: Understanding the customer Redesign of the development process of the communication strategy The user research led to three characteristics based on customer behaviour: • Willingness to pay (extra), • Level of consciousness on data spending • The attitude toward adopting a Smart Life product. To make use of a Smart Life product data is needed and a subscription need to be bought. To do so a customer needs a high or medium willingness to pay for data usage or a subscription. Moreover, the research showed that users who used the Smart Life products were less conscious on data spending and had a positive attitude toward adopting Smart life products. This is affected by knowledge based trust in the product and perception on what the attribute of the product can deliver to the customer. With this insights three customer profiles are found; • Enjoyer • Conscious enjoyer • Saver A saver has high level of consciousness on data spending, a low willingness to pay for a subscription or his data usage and a negative attitude toward new products. Because of this a saver will not use the Smart Life products but the enjoyer and conscious enjoyer will do. They have a higher willingness to pay and lower level of consciousness on data spending. Both profiles need a different way of communication. This results in messages with different benefits, context descriptions and characters. Character statements help to design a more personalised goal for a message and fit an enjoyer or conscious enjoyer. The following character statements were developed for the target groups: Enjoyer - An enjoyer must be approached in a enthusiastic, proactive way, the fact that the product provides comfort and takes less effort should be the main message. Conscious enjoyer - A conscious enjoyer must be approached with a cheerful message that is transparent on price and amount of data that the product will cost. Additional educating information will provide knowledge about the product and data spending which will help to get to know and trust the product and finally adopt it. The marketers needed to have more understanding of the customers and a redesign of the development process for a communication strategy was needed. As a result a workshop, consisting of 3 tools is designed. Every tool is used for another goal: • Tool 1: Participant and facilitator guide: preparation for the workshop • Tool 2: The customer canvas: get to know the customer & brainstorm about their needs. • Tool 3: Communication strategy canvas: customer centric design of the strategy. The tools will enable the CS marketer and the involved stakeholders to be more aware of what type of customer they target and what should be communicated to them. The tools create a new development process to design a customer centric communication strategy. The customer insights from the participant and facilitator guides (tool 1) can be used to support brainstorms and decisions during the design of the strategy. Following the two other tools ensure that all stakeholders think from the customer perspective and that an overview is created of the all communication moments. Additionally the tools take care of understanding each others ideas and communicating these ideas. All together the designed solution meets the aim of this thesis. The design supports the CS marketer in creating a customer centric communication strategy. It makes the CS marketer more aware of the different kind of customers he is approaching. This transforms the product focused communication strategy into a customer focused one and results in a more personalised message towards customers.Industrial Design EngineeringStrategic Product Desig
De taal van een smekeling. Over het lied ‘Een smekeling, zo kom ik tot uw troon’
No full textIn this article, “The language of a supplicant”, the author tries to discover the true language of a communal song. Is it not true that, in addition to the text, especially its melody and to a lesser degree also the rhythm, the pitch and the dynamics of the melody, are elements of this language? And to what extent is this language influenced by other texts (contrafacts), with which the melody has been co-existing for some time? These questions are discussed from the example of a very well known Dutch song: Een smekeling zo kom ik tot uw troon (“A supplicant, thus I approach your throne”). The melody is by Bernard Huijbers, the text by Jan Wit. Nearly all contrafacts are from Huub Oosterhuis.In this article, “The language of a supplicant”, the author tries to discover the true language of a communal song. Is it not true that, in addition to the text, especially its melody and to a lesser degree also the rhythm, the pitch and the dynamics of the melody, are elements of this language? And to what extent is this language influenced by other texts (contrafacts), with which the melody has been co-existing for some time? These questions are discussed from the example of a very well known Dutch song: Een smekeling zo kom ik tot uw troon (“A supplicant, thus I approach your throne”). The melody is by Bernard Huijbers, the text by Jan Wit. Nearly all contrafacts are from Huub Oosterhuis
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