New thinking in HIV prevention: an anthropological and epidemiological viewpoint

Abstract

Prior to his current faculty position in the Department of Global Health and Population at the Harvard School of Public Health, Halperin served for over 5 years as the Senior HIV Prevention and Behavior Change Advisor at the USA Agency for International Development. Halperin has conducted epidemiological and ethnographic research for 30 years on a number of health and sociocultural issues in Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa and other developing regions. Since completing his doctoral training in medical and cultural anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1995, his work has mainly focused on the heterosexual transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. Most of Halperin's research and scientific publications have dealt with some of the previously more neglected HIV co-factors, such as concurrent sexual partner networks, lack of male circumcision, ‘dry sex’ practices, alcohol use and heterosexual anal intercourse. He has conducted field research and consultations over the years in a number of countries, including Brazil, South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Peru.