Sophie Pascoe
Biographic Data
| ID | 3737633 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Sophie Pascoe |
| GIVEN NAMES | Sophie |
| FAMILY NAME | Pascoe |
| SIGNATURE | PASCOE S |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of the Witwatersrand |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-9199-8333 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 21 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 13 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 21 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2010 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Managing the move
Men in South Africa are disproportionately underrepresented in HIV care, and men who migrate face challenges using HIV services. Positive coping skills are critical for effective healthcare decision-making, yet little is known how men’s HIV status and mobility-related stressors affect their coping strategies. Johannesburg is home to ∼5 million people who have relocated from elsewhere, mostly men. From February-April 2024, we conducted a cross-sec…
Making boundaries, disputing land
Drawing boundaries around land and forest involves diverse actors, technologies, and claims. Legal tools and territorial strategies function to control access, regulate movement, enable land investment, assert ownership, maintain customary relationships, and manage conflicts. In three ethnographic stories from Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, involving state forestry officials, plantation companies, and local communities, we conceptualise boundary …
Understanding HIV Vaccine Misinformation and Vaccine Intentions Among Young Women in South Africa
An effective HIV vaccine could significantly reduce HIV incidence, but demand for future HIV vaccines will be affected by misinformation. We conducted an online survey (March-April 2024) to identify the misinformation claims most likely to deter young women in South Africa (n = 188) from receiving an HIV vaccine. Participants rated HIV-vaccine misinformation as most concerning (i.e. would make them not want to get vaccinated) and least concerning…
Primary healthcare providers’ perspectives on six-month dispensing of antiretroviral therapy (ART) in South Africa
BACKGROUND: Many African countries have increased the dispensing duration of antiretroviral therapy (ART) from 3 months to 6 months for established HIV treatment clients. OBJECTIVE: To assess South African healthcare providers' views on the benefits and challenges of the current maximum ART dispensing duration (3-month, 3MMD) and of potential 6-month dispensing (6MMD) to help inform South Africa about whether to move from 3MMD to 6MMD. METHODS: W…
The Gendered Slow Violence of Global Environmental Governance in Suau, Papua New Guinea
Gender equality has become a required element of development and environmental governance regimes globally. However, local gender relations and understandings of equality are often marginalised within internationally driven interventions. In this article, we examine the interconnected and attritional ways that global environmental governance programs, specifically climate change mitigation and conservation projects, foreground categories of gende…
Experiences of Testing Negative or Positive for HIV in Malawi, South Africa, and Zambia
HIV testing services (HTS) increase HIV status awareness and serve as the gateway to prevention and treatment. Understanding clients' perspectives when accessing facility-based HTS is important to ensure comprehensive service provision, improve linkage to care, and ultimately contribute to better health outcomes. We surveyed a convenience sample of adults testing negative and positive at 42 health facilities in Malawi, South Africa, and Zambia fr…
Behaviourally-Informed Two-Way Text Messaging to Improve Return to HIV Care in South Africa
One-way text messaging to re-engage people in HIV care has shown promise, but little is known about two-way messaging. We evaluated a behaviourally-informed two-way text messaging intervention to increase re-engagement in care following missed visits. We conducted an individual-level randomised controlled trial between February and March 2023 in Capricorn District, South Africa. Adults aged ≥ 18 years who had missed an ART visit by > 28 days were…
HIV Care for Men on the Move
Weaving Partial Stories
Different goals and assumptions enable and legitimise the ways that climate change is understood and governed through increasingly urgent, experimental, and heterogeneous interventions. We examine the ontological politics of 'piloting' Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) by weaving together stories from our ethnographic fieldwork in Central Suau, Papua New Guinea and Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. Weaving partial …
Patterns of engagement in care during clients’ first 12 months after HIV treatment initiation in South Africa
Retention on antiretroviral therapy (ART) during the early treatment period is one of the most serious challenges facing HIV programs, but the timing and patterns of early disengagement from care remain poorly understood. We describe patterns of engagement in HIV care during the first year after treatment initiation. We analysed retrospective datasets of routinely collected electronic medical register (EMR) data for ≥18-year-old clients who initi…
Applying behavioural economics principles to increase demand for free HIV testing services at private doctor-led clinics in Johannesburg, South Africa
Expanding free HIV testing service (HTS) access to include private clinics could increase testing rates. A donor funded programme, GP Care Cell, offered free HIV testing at selected private doctor-led clinics but uptake was low. We investigated whether HTS demand creation materials that used behavioural economics principles could increase demand for HIV testing at these clinics. We conducted a randomised controlled trial in Johannesburg, South Af…
Migrant men and HIV care engagement in Johannesburg, South Africa
Our study revealed a high proportion of migrants within our community-based sample of men and demonstrated a need for HIV and other healthcare services that effectively reach migrants in Johannesburg. Future research is warranted to further disaggregate this heterogenous population by different dimensions of mobility and to understand how to design HIV programs in ways that will address migrants' challenges
Paying attention to pigs
The idea of 'equity', largely grounded in Western legal tradition, has come to permeate evaluations of what is fair and just within environmental governance programmes. But what constitutes equity in climate change and conservation projects? And does everyone affected by such projects see equity as desirable? Local encounters with global environmental governance interventions in Suau, Milne Bay Province of Papua New Guinea, provide an entry point…
Assessment of facility-level antiretroviral treatment patient status utilizing a national-level laboratory cohort
Background: Most estimates of HIV retention are derived at the clinic level through antiretroviral (ART) patient management systems, which capture ART clinic visit data, yet these cannot account for silent transfers across HIV treatment sites. Patient laboratory monitoring visits may also be observed in routinely collected laboratory data, which include ART monitoring tests such as CD4 count and HIV viral load, key to our work here. Methods: In t…
Quasi-experimental evaluation of a financial incentive for first-dose Covid-19 vaccination among adults aged ≥60 years in South Africa
INTRODUCTION: COVID-19 vaccination coverage in South Africa (RSA) remains low despite increased access to vaccines. On 1 November 2021, RSA introduced the Vooma Voucher programme which provided a small guaranteed financial incentive, a Vooma Voucher redeemable at grocery stores, for COVID-19 vaccination among older adults, a population most vulnerable to serious illness, hospitalisation and death. However, the association of financial incentives …
Community health worker models in South Africa
South Africa has a long history of community health workers (CHWs). It has been a journey that has required balancing constrained resources and competing priorities. CHWs form a bridge between communities and healthcare service provision within health facilities and act as the cornerstone of South Africa’s Ward-Based Primary Healthcare Outreach Teams. This study aimed to document the CHW policy implementation landscape across six provinces in Sou…
Stealing Air and Land – The Politics of Translating Global Environmental Governance in Suau, Papua New Guinea
Global environmental governance today is grounded in a set of ontological assumptions that involve measurement and commodification of carbon emissions as tradeable units between countries for mitigating climate change and preventing deforestation. These ontological assumptions are not necessarily shared by communities that are targeted for implementing projects developed under such agendas. This article provides an ethnographic account of the ten…
“Even if you’re HIV-positive there’s life after if you take your medication”
South Africa's national antiretroviral treatment (ART) programme, initiated in 2004, is the largest HIV treatment programme in the world with an estimated 4.2 million people on ART. Today, an HIV diagnosis is no longer associated with certain death, but is rather a manageable chronic disease, with all HIV-positive patients now eligible to receive treatment. In this study, we explore patient experiences at the onset of the ART programme, including…
Interrogating scale in the Redd+ assemblage in Papua New Guinea
A novel tool to assess community norms and attitudes to multiple and concurrent sexual partnering in rural Zimbabwe
Concurrent sexual partnerships are important in understanding the evolution and maintenance of the HIV heterosexual epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa. While it is possible to measure individual attitudes around sensitive behaviours through questionnaire surveys, studies suggest that responses may be subject to social desirability bias and may not reflect community norms. This study used a novel tool to collect data on community norms relating to the…
Acceptability and challenges of implementing voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) in rural Zimbabwe
Voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) is an important component of HIV prevention and care. Little research exists on its acceptability and feasibility in rural settings. This paper examines the acceptability and feasibility of providing VCT using data from two sub-studies: (1) client-initiated VCT provided in rural health centres (RHCs) and (2) researcher-initiated VCT provided in a non-clinic community setting. Nurses provided client-initiate…
Paying attention to pigs
The idea of 'equity', largely grounded in Western legal tradition, has come to permeate evaluations of what is fair and just within environmental governance programmes. But what constitutes equity in climate change and conservation projects? And does everyone affected by such projects see equity as desirable? Local encounters with global environmental governance interventions in Suau, Milne Bay Province of Papua New Guinea, provide an entry point…
Weaving Partial Stories
Different goals and assumptions enable and legitimise the ways that climate change is understood and governed through increasingly urgent, experimental, and heterogeneous interventions. We examine the ontological politics of 'piloting' Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) by weaving together stories from our ethnographic fieldwork in Central Suau, Papua New Guinea and Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. Weaving partial …
Interrogating scale in the Redd+ assemblage in Papua New Guinea
Acceptability and challenges of implementing voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) in rural Zimbabwe
Voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) is an important component of HIV prevention and care. Little research exists on its acceptability and feasibility in rural settings. This paper examines the acceptability and feasibility of providing VCT using data from two sub-studies: (1) client-initiated VCT provided in rural health centres (RHCs) and (2) researcher-initiated VCT provided in a non-clinic community setting. Nurses provided client-initiate…
A novel tool to assess community norms and attitudes to multiple and concurrent sexual partnering in rural Zimbabwe
Concurrent sexual partnerships are important in understanding the evolution and maintenance of the HIV heterosexual epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa. While it is possible to measure individual attitudes around sensitive behaviours through questionnaire surveys, studies suggest that responses may be subject to social desirability bias and may not reflect community norms. This study used a novel tool to collect data on community norms relating to the…
Interrogating scale in the Redd+ assemblage in Papua New Guinea
“Even if you’re HIV-positive there’s life after if you take your medication”
South Africa's national antiretroviral treatment (ART) programme, initiated in 2004, is the largest HIV treatment programme in the world with an estimated 4.2 million people on ART. Today, an HIV diagnosis is no longer associated with certain death, but is rather a manageable chronic disease, with all HIV-positive patients now eligible to receive treatment. In this study, we explore patient experiences at the onset of the ART programme, including…
Community health worker models in South Africa
South Africa has a long history of community health workers (CHWs). It has been a journey that has required balancing constrained resources and competing priorities. CHWs form a bridge between communities and healthcare service provision within health facilities and act as the cornerstone of South Africa’s Ward-Based Primary Healthcare Outreach Teams. This study aimed to document the CHW policy implementation landscape across six provinces in Sou…
Stealing Air and Land – The Politics of Translating Global Environmental Governance in Suau, Papua New Guinea
Global environmental governance today is grounded in a set of ontological assumptions that involve measurement and commodification of carbon emissions as tradeable units between countries for mitigating climate change and preventing deforestation. These ontological assumptions are not necessarily shared by communities that are targeted for implementing projects developed under such agendas. This article provides an ethnographic account of the ten…
Assessment of facility-level antiretroviral treatment patient status utilizing a national-level laboratory cohort
Background: Most estimates of HIV retention are derived at the clinic level through antiretroviral (ART) patient management systems, which capture ART clinic visit data, yet these cannot account for silent transfers across HIV treatment sites. Patient laboratory monitoring visits may also be observed in routinely collected laboratory data, which include ART monitoring tests such as CD4 count and HIV viral load, key to our work here. Methods: In t…
Quasi-experimental evaluation of a financial incentive for first-dose Covid-19 vaccination among adults aged ≥60 years in South Africa
INTRODUCTION: COVID-19 vaccination coverage in South Africa (RSA) remains low despite increased access to vaccines. On 1 November 2021, RSA introduced the Vooma Voucher programme which provided a small guaranteed financial incentive, a Vooma Voucher redeemable at grocery stores, for COVID-19 vaccination among older adults, a population most vulnerable to serious illness, hospitalisation and death. However, the association of financial incentives …
Paying attention to pigs
The idea of 'equity', largely grounded in Western legal tradition, has come to permeate evaluations of what is fair and just within environmental governance programmes. But what constitutes equity in climate change and conservation projects? And does everyone affected by such projects see equity as desirable? Local encounters with global environmental governance interventions in Suau, Milne Bay Province of Papua New Guinea, provide an entry point…
Patterns of engagement in care during clients’ first 12 months after HIV treatment initiation in South Africa
Retention on antiretroviral therapy (ART) during the early treatment period is one of the most serious challenges facing HIV programs, but the timing and patterns of early disengagement from care remain poorly understood. We describe patterns of engagement in HIV care during the first year after treatment initiation. We analysed retrospective datasets of routinely collected electronic medical register (EMR) data for ≥18-year-old clients who initi…
Applying behavioural economics principles to increase demand for free HIV testing services at private doctor-led clinics in Johannesburg, South Africa
Expanding free HIV testing service (HTS) access to include private clinics could increase testing rates. A donor funded programme, GP Care Cell, offered free HIV testing at selected private doctor-led clinics but uptake was low. We investigated whether HTS demand creation materials that used behavioural economics principles could increase demand for HIV testing at these clinics. We conducted a randomised controlled trial in Johannesburg, South Af…
Migrant men and HIV care engagement in Johannesburg, South Africa
Our study revealed a high proportion of migrants within our community-based sample of men and demonstrated a need for HIV and other healthcare services that effectively reach migrants in Johannesburg. Future research is warranted to further disaggregate this heterogenous population by different dimensions of mobility and to understand how to design HIV programs in ways that will address migrants' challenges
Primary healthcare providers’ perspectives on six-month dispensing of antiretroviral therapy (ART) in South Africa
BACKGROUND: Many African countries have increased the dispensing duration of antiretroviral therapy (ART) from 3 months to 6 months for established HIV treatment clients. OBJECTIVE: To assess South African healthcare providers' views on the benefits and challenges of the current maximum ART dispensing duration (3-month, 3MMD) and of potential 6-month dispensing (6MMD) to help inform South Africa about whether to move from 3MMD to 6MMD. METHODS: W…
The Gendered Slow Violence of Global Environmental Governance in Suau, Papua New Guinea
Gender equality has become a required element of development and environmental governance regimes globally. However, local gender relations and understandings of equality are often marginalised within internationally driven interventions. In this article, we examine the interconnected and attritional ways that global environmental governance programs, specifically climate change mitigation and conservation projects, foreground categories of gende…
Experiences of Testing Negative or Positive for HIV in Malawi, South Africa, and Zambia
HIV testing services (HTS) increase HIV status awareness and serve as the gateway to prevention and treatment. Understanding clients' perspectives when accessing facility-based HTS is important to ensure comprehensive service provision, improve linkage to care, and ultimately contribute to better health outcomes. We surveyed a convenience sample of adults testing negative and positive at 42 health facilities in Malawi, South Africa, and Zambia fr…
Behaviourally-Informed Two-Way Text Messaging to Improve Return to HIV Care in South Africa
One-way text messaging to re-engage people in HIV care has shown promise, but little is known about two-way messaging. We evaluated a behaviourally-informed two-way text messaging intervention to increase re-engagement in care following missed visits. We conducted an individual-level randomised controlled trial between February and March 2023 in Capricorn District, South Africa. Adults aged ≥ 18 years who had missed an ART visit by > 28 days were…
HIV Care for Men on the Move
Weaving Partial Stories
Different goals and assumptions enable and legitimise the ways that climate change is understood and governed through increasingly urgent, experimental, and heterogeneous interventions. We examine the ontological politics of 'piloting' Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) by weaving together stories from our ethnographic fieldwork in Central Suau, Papua New Guinea and Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. Weaving partial …
Managing the move
Men in South Africa are disproportionately underrepresented in HIV care, and men who migrate face challenges using HIV services. Positive coping skills are critical for effective healthcare decision-making, yet little is known how men’s HIV status and mobility-related stressors affect their coping strategies. Johannesburg is home to ∼5 million people who have relocated from elsewhere, mostly men. From February-April 2024, we conducted a cross-sec…
Making boundaries, disputing land
Drawing boundaries around land and forest involves diverse actors, technologies, and claims. Legal tools and territorial strategies function to control access, regulate movement, enable land investment, assert ownership, maintain customary relationships, and manage conflicts. In three ethnographic stories from Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, involving state forestry officials, plantation companies, and local communities, we conceptualise boundary …
Understanding HIV Vaccine Misinformation and Vaccine Intentions Among Young Women in South Africa
An effective HIV vaccine could significantly reduce HIV incidence, but demand for future HIV vaccines will be affected by misinformation. We conducted an online survey (March-April 2024) to identify the misinformation claims most likely to deter young women in South Africa (n = 188) from receiving an HIV vaccine. Participants rated HIV-vaccine misinformation as most concerning (i.e. would make them not want to get vaccinated) and least concerning…
HIV/AIDS Research and Interventions (12 works) · Medicine (11 works) · Family medicine (8 works) · Sociology (8 works) · Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health (7 works) · Business (7 works) · Environmental health (7 works) · Nursing (6 works) · Political science (6 works) · Internal Medicine (5 works)