Arielle Scoblionko Parsons The New School for Design Design + Management Department Senior Thesis 1 Fall 2008

1. aids
in
ethiopia:
BORN
WITHOUT
RIGHTS

2. introduction
navigation
project introduction; spring 2008
design development; course overview
project topic exploration; brainstorm
project brainstorm; initial inspiration
people living with hiv/aids; demographics
people living with hiv/aids; africa
people living with hiv/aids; ethiopia
project and problem overview; scientific
project introduction; fall 2008
senior thesis; course overview
design development review; inspiration
project topic exploration; childhood
project research; inspiration
introduction; problem statement

3. aids in ethiopia;
born wihtout rights
HIV/AIDS project overview
common denominator; socialization
understanding the larger context; childhood
understanding the larger context; childhood in africa
understanding the larger context; motherhood
understanding the larger context; motherhood in africa
understanding the larger context; breast-feeding
understanding the larger context; breast-feeding in africa
understanding the larger context; child hiv/aids
undersatnding the larger context; child hiv/aids in africa
approaching the problem
the aids epidemic; empathy
opportunities; areas of intervention
project plan; time line
bibliography
all sources sited; bibliography, work in progress

4. project introduction; spring 2008
design development: course overview
Ther e are many broadly
applicable principles that can be
used to enhance the design
development process in almost
any context. Design Development
is a one semester course that
addresses these fundamental
principles in a conceptual as well
as practical manner. The course
encourages studying the ways in
which design processes unfold
from many perspectives which
affords opportunities for
developing the insight required to
recognize critical junctures that
offer opportunities for increasing
creativity and efficiency.

5. aids in ethiopia;
born wihtout rights
Design Development(spring 2008):
Identifying the Problem

6. project introduction; spring 2008
project topic exploration; brainstorm

7. aids in ethiopia;
born wihtout rights

8. project introduction; spring 2008
project brainstrom; initial inspiration

9. aids in ethiopia;
born without rights

10. project introduction; spring 2008
people living with hiv/aids; demographics
Global HIV infection; 30-36 million living with HIV, 2007
ADULT PREVALENCE (%)
15.0% - 28.0%
5.0% -< 15.0%
1.0% -< 5.0%
.5% - < 1.0%
.1%-,< 5%
<.1%
No data available

11. aids in ethiopia;
born without rights
Young girls,
orphaned by
HIV/AIDS.

12. product introduction; spring 2008
people living with hiv/aids; ethiopia
Global HIV infection; 30-36 million living with HIV, 2007
ADULT PREVALENCE (%)
15.0% - 28.0%
5.0% -< 15.0%
1.0% -< 5.0%
.5% - < 1.0%
.1%-,< 5%
<.1%
No data available
ethiopia,2007

13. aids in ethiopia;
born without rights
Ethiopia is a country located on
the Horn of Africa with Erotrea
to the north, Sudan to the west,
Kenya to the south, Djbouti to the
northeast, and Somalia to the east.
Of Ethiopia’s 77 million people,
3 million are HIV positive,
each day birthing 1,000 new
infections. 93.
“In Ethiopia 1,000,000
children under the age of
fourteen have lost at least
1 parent to AIDS. That makes
Ethiopia country with the most
HIV-positive children.” 93.
29% of pregnant women were
HIV positive in 2006. 10.
13.
South Africa’s Department of
Health estimates that 18.3% of
12.

14. project introduction; spring 2008
project and problem overview; scientific
HIV/AIDS
Acquired Immune Deficiency
Syndrome refers to symptoms
and infections resulting from
the damage to the immune
system
HIV is a retrovirus that infects
vital organs of the human
immune system, such as
CD4+ T cells, which are
destroyed. CD4+ T cells are
required for the immune sys-
tem to function.
“When HIV kills CD4+ T cells
so that there are fewer than
200 per microliter of blood,
cellular immunity is lost.”
AIDS positive cell HIV virus infecting a cell

15. aids in ethiopia;
born without rights
ROUTES
MYTHS TRANSMISSION
Sexual intercourse with a “As the fetus grows in utero, Sexual contact
virgin will cure AIDS cells of the placenta may be-
come infected.” Exposure to infected body
HIV only infects homosexuals fluids or tissues
Free virus or HIV-infected
Anal intercourse between men cells from the mother may Contact between sexual
can lead to AIDS infection enter the fetal circulatory sys- secretions of one partner with
tem. During labor and mucous membranes of
HIV is the same thing as AIDS delivery the child is therefore another
exposed to a large amount of
HIV can only be transmitted infectious maternal blood and Saliva, tears, urine
by direct contact of blood be- fluids.”
tween an infected and Mother-to-child transmission
uninfected person. HIV can be isolated in breast
milk. Therefore, the virus can
HIV is being spread through be passed to the child during
nursing.
needles left on theater seats
AIDS viruses budding from a white blood From above: AIDS virus entering blood
cell's membrane. stream,T4 cell infected with HIV

16. project introduction; spring 2008
project and problem overview; mother to child transmission
mother to child transmission “ Infection of HIV from
“An estimated
370,000 children
an HIV-positive
were newly infected
with HIV in 2007” 2. mother to her child
during pregnancy,
labour, delivery or
breast feeding.” 2.
“MTCT” 3.

17. aids in ethiopia;
born without rights
97.
58. 95.
91.

18. project introduction; fall 2008
senior thesis: course overview
Seni or Thesis is a two
semester course intended to draw
upon and test competencies
developed in previous Design
and Management courses. By
employing and refining evolving
skills of research, analysis,
explanation, persuasion, and
presentation this project
demonstrates an intimate
understanding in the ermeging
field of Design Research. AIDS In
Ethiopia; Born without Rights
represents four years of study,
channeling unique talents to
understand, communicate,
research and design for unfamiliar
people in unfamiliar places.

19. aids in ethiopia;
born without rights
Senior Thesis (fall 2008):
Intervention/Innovation

20. project introduction; fall 2008
design development review; inspiration
Sudan - almost 500,000
children refugees
caused by violence and
civil war. 1.
These children
are born
without rights.
They endure the Ghana - 3% of the population
from 15-49 are currently
consequences infected with the AIDS
of their parent’s virus. 1.
actions.
Uganda - more than
940,000 children are Ethiopia - this country
orphaned due to the of 70 million has
AIDS pandemic. 1. more than 5 million
orphans, their parents
lost to famine, disease,
Zambia - 47% of the popula- war and AIDS. 1.
tion is younger than 15
with only 7% receiving aid of 1.
any kind. 1.

21. aids in ethiopia;
born without rights
In many ways, scientific
The rapid spread of HIV
research has delineated
epidemic. the means by which
is a global
Mother to child
transmission
In developing countries,
can be prevented. The
primary challenge now
up to 50% of infant facing the HIV community
is how to implement, in a
range of settings, the
contraction is due to
benefits of these
breast feeding. discoveries. 82.
45.

22. project introduction; fall 2008
project topic exploration; childhood
biology,
“In
survival is the ultimate
criterion of
adaptation,
achieved not only through
spawning and protection
of the newborn but also
indirectly through the social
processes involved in the
provision of food, sharing of
information, and maintenance
of social order - in all
animals. A[n
understanding]
of child[hood] care in
any human population must
begin with how adaptive
functions are socially
culturally
and
organized in
the local environment
child.” (chid care
of the

23. aids in ethiopia;
born without rights
Perceptions of childhood
vary amongst cultures, demographic regions, time
periods, religions, and races. Despite childhood
people are connected by the common
differences, all
inability to bypass the early biological stage of life,
childhood. Therefore, all children are
entitled to the basic human rights
that ensure a healthy physical, mental and
spiritual development. However, many
children are denied these fundamental human rights
due to social, cultural and environmental
constraints. As a global society bound by
our biological commonalities, it is our responsibility
future generations and
to protect
ensure the continuation of human existence.

24. project introduction; fall 2008 aids in ethiopia;
project research; inspiration born without rights
“ Newsweek magazine announced, in its 1997 special issue on children, that
breast feeding may boost a child’s intelligence. But the New York Times warned of the dangers
of HIV-infected mothers passing the virus to their infants through their milk (Meier 1997).
And Time magazine told the story of a female Army pilot, Emma Cuevas, who asked to be released
from the service to breastfeed her baby after her six-week maternity leave was up. She was denied this
option, though experts on her behalf claimed a constitutional right to breastfeed...”

25. project overview aids in ethiopia;
navigation born without rights

26. project introduction; fall 2008
introduction; problem statement
Cur rently fourteen percent of children in Ethiopia
are stripped of their human rights due to HIV/AIDS
exposure, 33 – 50% of which contract the fatal
virus through their mother’s breast milk. Ethiopia faces
unique hiv transmission challenges due to the societal
significance of breast feeding, which secures a woman’s
role and rights within a community. Globally we have
battled the HIV/AIDS epidemic through governmental
interventions, volunteer services, antiretroviral
treatments, education, sexual protection, and scientific
and medical advances, all of which are compatible
within the first world countries in which they were
created. In order to restore human rights to children,
there is a desperate need to implement, in a range of
settings, the benefits of these discoveries.

27. aids in ethiopia;
born without rights

28. HIV/AIDS project overview
common denominator; socialization
“[Socialization is] the process through which
individuals acquire
the knowledge , skills, and dispositions
that enable them to participate as more or less
effective members of groups and the society.”

29. aids in ethiopia;
born without rights
“A population tends to
share an environment, symbol
systems for encoding it, and
organizations and codes of
conduct for adapting to it...
Human adaptation...is
largely attributable to the
operation of specific
social organizations...
following cuturally presribed
scripts...No account of on-
tegeny in human adaptation
could be adequate without
inclusion of
population-specific patterns
that establish pathways fo
behavioral development
of children.”

30. HIV/AIDS project overview
understanding the larger context; childhood
childhood in any human population
The nature of
begins with how adaptive functions are socially
and culturally organized in the local enviornment.

31. aids in ethiopia;
born without rights
http://www.pbase.com/tarable/image/26627987 (dec 5)
http://www.erikamasterson.com/
thesession.htm (dec 5)

32. HIV/AIDS project overview
understanding the larger context; childhood in africa
“[The model of African
childcare] is referred to as
the pediatric [model],
“because its primary
concern is with the
survival, health, and
physical growth of the
infant. The American
[model],” is referred to as,
“pedagogical, because its
primary concern is with the
development
behavioral
and its preparation for
educational interactions.”

33. aids in ethiopia;
born without rights
“Children’s fundamental rights remain a
major challenge in Ethiopia. Poverty deprives children in
food, clean water,
their early years of life to adequate
and medicine.” Preliminary results from UNICEF’s 2000
Ethiopia Demographic and Health Survey indicate that:
• one out of every 20 children die in their first month of life
die
• one out of ten before reaching their first birthday
• one out of six die before reaching their fifth birthday

34. HIV/AIDS project overview
understanding the larger context; motherhood
When functioning as the primary
caregiver, mothers of all
species and cultures “are
motivated by a concern for
the health and survival of their
infant.”

35. aids in ethiopia;
born without rights
“Some experts liken the
sensual tie between
mother and child to the
exclusivity of
the monogamous
marriage bond.”
“The cultural variation
in beliefs about pregnancy
begins with beliefs about
the causes of conception,
which can express
meanings and values
central to the identity
of a culture.”

36. HIV/AIDS project overview
understanding the larger context; motherhood in africa
“In virtually all the social and cultural contexts of indigenous
necessary for
Africa, childbearing is
moral virtue, spiritual continuity, and material
well-being; the more descendants one
has, the better off one is considered to be.”
childless man is
“A barren woman or
[African’s] image of the worst possible fate: an
incomplete person who has not attained the
foothold necessary for full adulthood and spiritual
continuity. In some African socieites, such people are
pitied and feared.”

37. aids in ethiopia;
born without rights
The experience of pregnancy
encompasses physiological, psychological,
spiritual, and socio-cultural dimensions.
Because the future of any given
culture depends heavily on women’s
procreative abilities,
these abilities carry strong
social significance. Thus, every
culture takes upon itself the
regulation and management of women’s
pregnancies.

38. HIV/AIDS project overview
understanding the the larger concept; breast-feeding
“In the United States, maternal
respected as
“To be
breast feed-
mother within the
ing has long been
affluent middle-class...
advocated as a key to good
requires a commitment mothering,
to breast feed-
womanly honor, and
ing. In the current era, even to women’s
citizenship...The
breast feeding has become
the measure of the mother.” notion of breast feeding as
a mother’s obligation to
both her child and the larger
social body extends from
the colonial days, when
nursing was a mother’s
sacred duty.”

39. aids in ethiopia;
born without rights
feeding
“Breast
plays heavily into our
notions of “good” and “bad”
mothers, which touches on
“Mother’s bodies, female sexuality, and the act of
one of the dominant
embodies anxieities addresing whether
emotional issues of the feeding at the breast
women’s bodies are “pure” or “dangerous.” The
twenty first century: the
relationship questions surrounding breast feeding “provides a lens
between breast feeding with which to sharpen our focus on the conflics
and motherhood.”
shaping and dividing women’s lives.”

40. HIV/AIDS project overview
understanding the larger context; breast-feeding in africa
hiv [breast feeding] story is so powerful
“The
because it literally and metaphorically tells
us which mothers have dangerous bodies.”
Breast feeding is an important part
worth is measured in terms of
“A woman's
mother wife,”
her role as a of
and status of
Ethiopian culture, therefore “many Ethiopian women
which are reinforced thorugh the act of breast feed-

41. aids in ethiopia;
born without rights
Ethiopian women are expected to breastfeed for it is
a safe, nutritious, and ensures infant-mother bonding,
which is an important element of the native culture.
refuse
In traditional Ethiopian societies women often
alternatives because they
breast feeding
fear
stigmatization by the family and the community.
If a woman does not breastfeed, it may be assumed that
she is HIV positive, exposing her to the physical

42. HIV/AIDS project overview
understanding the larger context; child hiv/aids
“From the beginning of the HIV pandemic through 2002.
four million children
under 15 years of age worldwide became infected.”
13%
2.5 million
of all new HIV infections
children
in 2003,
children
were in under age 15.
(under the age of 15)
500,000 children under 15
Approximately
worldwide were living with
died from AIDS or related causes in that year alone.
HIV/AIDS in 2003.

43. aids in ethiopia;
born without rights
In Ethiopia, children ages 5
to 14 are referred to as
”widows
of hope”
future is in
for the
their hands.
Most children are infected
Children affected by HIV/AIDS
with the virus during
poverty,
suffer from
pregnancy,
homelessness,
delivery or while
discrimination,
breast feeding.
death. About 50% of infants
and early
who get HIV from their
die before their
mothers
second birthday.

44. HIV/AIDS project overview
understanding the larger context; child hiv/aids in africa
trauma and
“It is hard to overemphasise the
hardship that children affected by
HIV and AIDS are forced to bear. The epidemic not
Sub-Saharan Africa is
lose their parents or guardians,
only causes children to
90% of
home to nearly
childhood as well.” all children living with HIV.
but sometimes their
http://confederateyankee.

45. aids in ethiopia;
born without rights
mortality
In seven African countries, child
has increased by 20 to 40% due to HIV/AIDS .
If HIV/AIDS continues to
thrive, “by 2020 there will
half the
be about
children under five there
there would have been in
the absense of AIDS.”

46. approaching the problem
the aids epidemic; empathy
The World Health
Organization
estimates 800,000
children were
infected with HIV
in 2001 alone.
57.

47. aids in ethiopia;
born without rights
HIV positive children, Ukraine HIV positive children, Africa
27.

48. approaching the problem
opportunities; areas of intervention
1. orphans
2. transmission
3. human rights
4. [protecting] culture
5. [maintaining] tradition

49. aids in ethiopia;
born without rights
6. psychological & emotional needs
7. organizations and counseling
8. child caregiver [cultural survival]
9. discrimination/stigma
10. fear [safety]

50. approaching the problem aids in ethiopia;
project plan; time line born without rights
Arielle's Senior Thesis Timeline/ Second Semester
Wednesday/ Wednesday/ Wednesday/ Wednesday/
week 2 week 3 week 4
week 1
15 22 29 Finalize
Semester 1 deliverable Develop expert discussion guide (general) semester 2 volunteering
December --
7 21 28
14
Finalize discussion guide for Dr. Mehret, Interview with Dr. Mehret on 1/15, analyze Develop discussion guides (for areas Finalize discussion guides, begin scheduling
prepare for interview, move forward with interview, narrow down to five areas of previously determined), move forward on in possible areas, begin volunteer work
January product book intervention product book
11 18
4 25
Begin interviews, continue scheduling, Continue interviews, refine discussion Continue interviews and volunteering, Test new prototypes), identify area of
narrow down to three areas of intervention guide, create mood boards (based on create and implement new prototypes, intervention, initial mood board and
February predetermined areas of interventions) continue with product book discussion guide modifications
4 spring break/11 18 25
Solution exploration, continue interviews, Continue solution exploration, identify three Continue solution exploration, continue Identify solution
refine mood boards and discussion guides , possible solutions interviews, refine mood boards, identify
March identify 5 solutions two possible solutions
1 8 15 22
Refine prototypes to reflect themes from Solution refinement, continue working on Solution refinement, continue with mood Continue testing, initial solution outline,
interviews and identified solution PB, expert interview (if possible) boards and interviews create prototypes
April
(April) 29 1 8 15 Thesis
Test prototypes, modify solution Interview analysis, final prototypes Thesis delivered on May 13 presentations
accordingly
April/May

51. project overview aids in ethiopia;
navigation born without rights
Arielle's Senior Thesis Timeline/ Second Semester
week 1 week 2 week 3 week 4 week 5 week 6 week 7 week 8 week 9 week 10 week 11 week 12 week 13 week 14 week 15 week 16 week 17 week 18
(1/21) (1/28) (2/4) (2/11) (2/18) (2/25) (3/4) (3/11) (3/18) (3/25) (4/1) (4/8) (4/15) (4/22) (4/29) (5/1) (5/8) (5/15)
Phase 1:
Prototype
development
(intervention
exploration)
Phase 2:
Test/develop
prototypes,
key areas of
intervention
Phase 3:
Identify area
of
intervention,
prototype
refinement
Phase 4:
Identify
spring
solution,
break
begin final
prototypes
Phase 5:
Thesis
delivered on
May 13th
(presentation
s on 15th)