Approaches which focus on social and structural determinants of health represent a largely untapped, yet crucial, part of prevention strategies. Too often, there is a gap between the social determinants of health, human rights, and service provision. The research Team assembled for the CIHR Social Research Centre in HIV Prevention brings a wide variety of perspectives, content knowledge, population and methodological expertise, but its overall strength is especially pronounced in the social sciences.

Our Public Health Approach

The SRC appreciates the importance of a holistic approach to HIV prevention and incorporates a combined, or multi-level approach to prevention research (biomedical, behavioural, social-structural) rather than a solely single-layer perspective. We employ a social-structural determinants of health lens that extends beyond biological and behavioural risk factors to offer a broader understanding of the root causes of HIV risk, vulnerability, and resiliency as socially (re-) produced concepts.