Tony Barnett

Bio: Tony Barnett is an academic researcher from University of London. The author has contributed to research in topics: Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) & Population. The author has an hindex of 27, co-authored 119 publications receiving 3646 citations. Previous affiliations of Tony Barnett include London School of Economics and Political Science & Royal Veterinary College.

AIDS in the Twenty-First Century: Disease and Globalization

Abstract: Introduction: Disease, Change, Consciousness and Denial The Disease and its Epidemiology Susceptibility: Epidemic Roots Susceptibility: Cases Why Africa? Vulnerability and Impact Introduction to Impact Impact: Individuals, Households and Communities Dependants: Orphans and the Elderly Subsistence Agriculture and Rural Livelihoods HIV/AIDS and 'For Profit' Enterprise Aids, Development and Economic Growth Government and Governance Responses

AIDS in Africa: Its Present and Future Impact

Abstract: Based on fieldwork carried out in the Rakai and Kigezi Districts of Uganda, the authors attempt to outline the long-term social and economic impact of AIDS in Africa, focusing on the effects on demographic structure, agriculture and the family and community - but also on the individual. After an introductory chapter, the demographic impact is explored, with a specific focus on Uganda. Two chapters then deal with individual and social ways of coping with AIDS, how it is explained and rationalised, and the practical ways of dealing with its impacts. The following chapter provides an explanation of the social and economic environment in Uganda which forms the background to the rapid spread of the disease. Chapter six gives a more detailed account of coping mechanisms in households and communities, discussing household structure and the demographic cycle, social differentiation and the care of orphans. To date, Bugandans have largely adapted existing well-tried strategies for dealing with stress and disasters. The next two chapters deal specifically with the care of orphans and the adaptations of farming systems to the loss of productive labour. The final chapter attempts to place the Ugandan case in a wider perspective, and calls for an end to public complacency.

The Economy-Wide Impact of Pandemic Influenza on the UK: A Computable General Equilibrium Modelling Experiment

Abstract: Objectives To estimate the potential economic impact of pandemic influenza, associated behavioural responses, school closures, and vaccination on the United Kingdom. Design A computable general equilibrium model of the UK economy was specified for various combinations of mortality and morbidity from pandemic influenza, vaccine efficacy, school closures, and prophylactic absenteeism using published data. Setting The 2004 UK economy (the most up to date available with suitable economic data). Main outcome measures The economic impact of various scenarios with different pandemic severity, vaccination, school closure, and prophylactic absenteeism specified in terms of gross domestic product, output from different economic sectors, and equivalent variation. Results The costs related to illness alone ranged between 0.5% and 1.0% of gross domestic product (£8.4bn to £16.8bn) for low fatality scenarios, 3.3% and 4.3% (£55.5bn to £72.3bn) for high fatality scenarios, and larger still for an extreme pandemic. School closure increases the economic impact, particularly for mild pandemics. If widespread behavioural change takes place and there is large scale prophylactic absence from work, the economic impact would be notably increased with few health benefits. Vaccination with a pre-pandemic vaccine could save 0.13% to 2.3% of gross domestic product (£2.2bn to £38.6bn); a single dose of a matched vaccine could save 0.3% to 4.3% (£5.0bn to £72.3bn); and two doses of a matched vaccine could limit the overall economic impact to about 1% of gross domestic product for all disease scenarios. Conclusion Balancing school closure against “business as usual” and obtaining sufficient stocks of effective vaccine are more important factors in determining the economic impact of an influenza pandemic than is the disease itself. Prophylactic absence from work in response to fear of infection can add considerably to the economic impact.

Exploring the role of economic empowerment in HIV prevention.

Abstract: It has been argued that women's economic vulnerability and dependence on men increases their vulnerability to HIV by constraining their ability to negotiate the conditions, including sexual abstinence, condom use and multiple partnerships, which shape their risk of infection. In the face of escalating infection rates among women, and particularly young women, many have pointed to the potential importance of economic empowerment strategies for HIV prevention responses. Global evidence suggests that the relationship between poverty and HIV risk is complex, and that poverty on its own cannot be viewed simplistically as a driver of the HIV epidemic. Rather, its role appears to be multidimensional and to interact with a range of other factors, including mobility, social and economic inequalities and social capital, which converge in a particularly potent way for young women living in southern Africa. To date, there have been few interventions that have explicitly attempted to combine economic empowerment with the goal of HIV prevention, and even fewer that have been rigorously evaluated. This paper explores how programmes such as microfinance, livelihood training and efforts to safeguard women's food security and access to property have begun to incorporate an HIV prevention focus. Although such circumscribed interventions, by themselves, are unlikely to lead to significant impacts on a national or regional scale, they are useful for testing cross-sectoral partnership models, generating practical lessons and providing a metaphor for what might be possible in promoting women's economic empowerment more broadly. Despite numerous calls to 'mainstream AIDS' in economic development, cross-sectoral responses have not been widely taken up by government or other stakeholders. We suggest potential reasons for limited progress to date and conclude by presenting programme and policy recommendations for further exploring and harnessing linkages between economic empowerment and HIV prevention in Southern Africa.

AIDS in the 21st Century: disease and globalisation

Abstract: First published in 2002, AIDS in the Twenty-First Century met with widespread praise from researchers and policy makers. This edition is fully revised to take account of the latest facts and developments in the field. All statistics and evidence have been updated and their meanings reconsidered. Latest developments in vaccines, anti-retroviral treatments and microbicides are discussed along with information about the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. A revised and extended bibliography is an important resource for students and researchers, and each chapter contains key readings and topics for essays and discussions. Carefully written to be accessible, this book is theoretically informed, practical and remains the leading text in its field.

Thinking fast and slow.

Abstract: In 1974 an article appeared in Science magazine with the dry-sounding title “Judgment Under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases” by a pair of psychologists who were not well known outside their discipline of decision theory. In it Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman introduced the world to Prospect Theory, which mapped out how humans actually behave when faced with decisions about gains and losses, in contrast to how economists assumed that people behave. Prospect Theory turned Economics on its head by demonstrating through a series of ingenious experiments that people are much more concerned with losses than they are with gains, and that framing a choice from one perspective or the other will result in decisions that are exactly the opposite of each other, even if the outcomes are monetarily the same. Prospect Theory led cognitive psychology in a new direction that began to uncover other human biases in thinking that are probably not learned but are part of our brain’s wiring.

Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste

Abstract: By Pierre Bourdieu (London: Routledge, 2010), xxx + 607 pp. £15.99 paper. A combination of social theory, statistical data, illustrations, and interviews, Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judg...

Patterns of Industrial Bureaucracy.

Abstract: This is a study in industrial sociology; it a partial report, to be followed by another, of an investigation of singel factory seen in the light of Max Weber's theory of bureacracy.

Sexual transmission of HIV

Abstract: Transmission through sexual contact accounts for 75 to 85 percent of the nearly 28 million infections with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that have occurred so far1 The probability of infection through sexual contact, although it varies greatly, appears to be lower than that of infection through other routes of exposure (Figure 1) The variability observed among and within routes of HIV exposure depends partly on the viral dose and also on whether the virus is transmitted directly into the blood or onto a mucous membrane In addition, these differences are influenced by a variety of host factors, including both