A framework for conceptualising and reviewing vulnerability to malaria, TB and HIV

This policy briefing, produced by the Malaria Consortium, analyses and defines vulnerability in relation to infectious disease, and provides a framework for reviewing vulnerability to malaria, TB and HIV, and for developing appropriate strategies to reduce it. This "Vulnerability Framework" identifies a range of factors influencing vulnerability to disease and its effects, ranging from the biological and disease-related at an individual level, to socio-economic at household and community level, to the physical and political at environmental and institutional level.

The authors recommend using the framework both as a basis for developing joint interventions, such as literacy or improved nutrition, to reduce vulnerability to all three diseases where they share common vulnerability factors, and as a tool for assessing intervention priorities for a specific disease. Key benefits of applying the framework include saving resources by targeting critical links between all three diseases, and improving co-ordination of services by providing a common point of reference for multi-sectoral service providers. The briefing outlines future research strategies; these include developing a participatory process for assessing vulnerability, focusing on the factors that make individuals or communities resilient to disease, and developing tools for measuring vulnerability in relation to different factors at the different levels. [adapted from author]