Eric A. Roth

Interests

Eric Roth I am a physical anthropologist, trained in anthropological demography by Nancy Howell at the University of Toronto. For over twenty years I have worked in small communities in northern Kenya, where I studied demography, maternal child health, childhood growth, and economic recovery from drought for formerly nomadic Rendille and Ariaal pastoralists. My current research interests focus on the social epidemiology of HIV/AIDS in Kenya and British Columbia. In Kenya the present research looks at the role of female sex workers and their male clients in the Kenyan AIDS epidemic. Other current projects include longitudinal studies of sexual behavior for Men Who Have Sex with Men in British Columbia and adherence to highly active anti-retroviral treatment among HIV(+) British Columbians, research on the social aspects of injection and non-injection drug equipment sharing in a Victoria needle exchange program and patterns of sexual behavior among people in substance treatment programs in British Columbia and Ontario. These efforts are described in more detail below.

Current Projects

"Kenya Free of AIDS"

This is a five-year program sponsored by the United States' National Institutes of Health, and directed by a partnership between the University of Washington (Dr. Martina Morris, Principal Investigator) and the University of Nairobi (Dr. Elizabeth N. Ngugi, Principal Investigator). The project's goal is to bring medical personnel and social scientists together to work on HIV/AIDS research. I am a Co-Leader, with Dr. Ngugi, of a specific project entitled, Exploration of Kenyan Female Commercial Sex Workers and Their Male Partners –Life Course and Harm Reduction Approaches. This project wants to understand how women enter the sex trade in Kenya, identify barriers and opportunities are for leaving the trade, and explore how the principles of harm reduction can be applied to sex work while women are in the trade. We will start by working in the Kibera urban slum area of Nairobi, and then initiate studies in rural Kenya.

"Narrowing the gap between men who have sex with men aware and unaware of their HIV positive status: The need for enhanced prevention for persons with acute infection"

I am one of three Principal Investigators for this Canadian Institutes of Health New Emerging Team Grant. Operating out of the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control this five-year project has as its centerpiece a new laboratory test called Nucleic Acid Amplification Test. This test can shorten significantly the window period for detecting HIV by directly measuring the amount of the virus, rather than later developing antibodies, in a person's system. Since viral loads spike during early or acute infection when people may not be aware that they are HIV-positive, the test has the potential to greatly reduce population transmission levels. The project will be oriented towards Men Who Have Sex with Men in Vancouver and Victoria. My role is to analyze longitudinal social network data to see how, and if, sexual behavior changes once a person takes the test.

"The Biosocial Context of Commercial Sex in Northern Kenya"

I am the Principal Investigator for this three-year Social Science and Humanities Research Council grant. While the great majority of sub-Saharan AIDS commercial sex research takes place in urban centers this project investigates the role of commercial sex in the transmission of HIV/AIDS from female sex workers in the northern Kenyan rural community of Marsabit Town to the small Ariaal Rendille village of Karare via unmarried men who as clients of sex workers, act as "bridge populations" linking high-risk (sex workers) to low-risk (girl friends) sub-populations. Previous research has given us a picture of sexual patterns within Karare, as well as reported measures of HIV/AIDS among Marsabit Town sex workers. Now we want to examine and model the effect of introducing HIV into the through transactional sex and its spread through the sexual networks of Karare.

"A Transdisciplinary Approach to Understanding and Modeling Injection Drug Risk Behavior in Victoria, British Columbia"

With funding from the Vancouver Foundation, this two-year project addresses the question of why People Who Use Injection Drugs and are clients of an established, efficient needle exchange program still share drug equipment, including syringes, cookers, ties and crack pipes. I am particularly happy to work with two of my former students, Ms. Heidi Exner and Ms. Erin K. Gibson, both now Managers at AIDS Vancouver Island. We are the project's Co-Principal Investigators.

"Evaluation of the Effect of Supportive (e.g., methadone treatment, mutually or directly observed therapy, physician experience, pharmacy supervision, and addiction services) ancillary (e.g., quarterly CD4 and viral load testing, and drug resistance testing as required) Health Services on Adherence and Response to Antiviral Therapy"

Representing a three-year Canadian Institute of Health Research Operating Grant, this project is bettter (much better) known as LISA, standing for Longitudinal Investigation in Supportive and Ancillary Health Services, and is headed by another former student, Dr. Robert Hogg, from the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS. The project's goal is to evaluate the effect of supportive (e.g. methadone treatment, physician experience, pharmacy supervision, and addiction services) and ancillary (e.g., quarterly CD4 and viral load testing, and drug resistance testing as required) health services on adherence and response to antiretroviral therapy. The target population is anyone who is HIV(+), receiving antiretroviral therapy and currently living in British Columbia. I am a Sub-Investigator on this project, responsible for interviewing and data collection on Vancouver Island.

"Patterns and Consequences of Cocaine and Alcohol Use for Substance Abuse Treatment Clients"

Directed by Dr. Scott MacDonald of the Centre for Addiction Research, University of Victoria, this project is funded by the Canadian Institute of Health Research as a three-year Operating Grant. The project recognizes that within the field of addictions research there are now specialized sub-fields and researchers, for example heroin researchers and crack cocaine researchers who frequently do not interact and share information, methodologies, etc.. However many people have joint substance use patterns, for example combining alcohol (drinking at a bar) and cocaine (snorting lines in the bathroom) use. This project looks at polysubstance use patterns through interviewing people in treatment centers in Ontario and British Columbia. My role is to investigate patterns of sexual behavior varying by substance (alcohol, cocaine, or both) and mode of ingestion (inhale, inject, smoke).

2011-12 Courses

Fall 2011 Term: ANTH 355 AIDS in the World , ANTH 317 Introduction to Quantitative Methods in Anthropological Research
Spring 2012 Term: ANTH 394 Selected Problems in Physical Anthropology: Anthropology of HIV/AIDS; ANTH 453 Human Evolutionary Ecology

Selected Publications

Books

2005 - (Elliot Fratkin & Eric Roth. 2005. As Pastoralists Settle: Social, Health, and Economic Consequences of the Pastoral Sedentarization in Marsabit District, Kenya. Springer-Verlag: New York.
2004 - Culture, Biology and Anthropological Demography. Cambridge University Press: New York.

Articles & Chapters

Forthcoming (Eric Roth, Elizabeth N. Ngugi & Masako Fujita. Risk and worry about HIV in northern Kenya. Health, Risk and Society.
2008 - (Cecilia Benoit, S. Mikael Jansson, Helga Kristin Hallgrimsdottir & Eric Roth) Street Youth's Life Course Transition. Comparative Social Research, 25:325-353.
2006 - (Eric Roth, Elizabeth Ngugi and Masako Fujita) Self-deception Does Not Explain High Risk Sexual Behavior in the Face of HIV/AIDS. Evolution and Human Behavior, 27(1): 53-62.
2005 - Introduction. In, As Pastoralists Settle: Social, Health and Economic Consequences of Pastoral Sedentarization in Marsabit District, Kenya. Elliot Fratkin and Eric Roth, editors. Pages 1-29. Springer-Verlag: New York.
2005 - (Eric Roth & Elizabeth Ngugi) Female Education in a Sedentary Ariaal Rendille Community: Paternal Decision-Making and Biosocial Pathways. In, As Pastoralists Settle: Social, Health and Economic Consequences of Pastoral Sedentarization in Marsabit District, Kenya. Elliot Fratkin and Eric Roth, editors. Pages 255-270. Springer-Verlag: New York.
2005 - (Connell McCluskey, Eric Roth & Pauline van den Driessche) Implication of Ariaal Sexual Mixing on Gonorrhea. American Journal of Human Biology, 17(3):293-301.
2005 - (Masako Fujita, Eric Roth, Elliot Fratkin & Martha Nathan) Sedentarization and Seasonality: Maternal Dietary and Health Consequences in Ariaal and Rendille Communities in Northern Kenya. In, As Pastoralists Settle: Social, Health and Economic Consequences of Pastoral Sedentarization in Marsabit District, Kenya. Elliot Fratkin and Eric Roth, editors. Pages 209-235. Springer-Verlag: New York.
2005 - (Martha Nathan, Eric Roth & Elliot Fratkin) Health and Morbidity among Rendille Pastoralist Children: Effects of Sedentism. In As Pastoralists Settle: Social, Health and Economic Consequences of Pastoral Sedentarization in Marsabit District, Kenya. Elliot Fratkin and Eric Roth, editors. Pages 193-208 Springer-Verlag: New York.
2005 - (Elliot Fratkin, Martha Nathan & Eric Roth) Decline of Children's Growth, Nutrition and Health with Sedentism among Rendille Pastoralists of Kenya: Results of a Three-Year Study. In, As Pastoralists Settle: Social, Health and Economic Consequences of Pastoral Sedentarization in Marsabit District, Kenya. Elliot Fratkin and Eric Roth, editors. Pages 173-192 Springer-Verlag: New York.
2004 - (Elliot Fratkin, Eric Roth & Martha Nathan) Pastoral Sedentarization and its Effects on Children's Growth, Nutrition and Health among Rendille of Northern Kenya. Human Ecology 32 (5): 531-559.
2004 - (Masako Fujita, Eric Roth, Elliot Fratkin & Martha Nathan) Sedentism, Seasonality, and Economic Status: A Multivariate Analysis of Maternal Dietary and Health Statuses between Pastoral and Agricultural Ariaal and Rendille Communities in Northern Kenya. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 123: 277-291
2004 - (Masako Fujita, Eric Roth, Elliot Fratkin & Martha Nathan) Sedentism, Seasonality, and Economic Status: A Multivariate Analysis of Maternal Dietary and Health Statuses between Pastoral and Agricultural Ariaal and Rendille Communities in Northern Kenya. American Journal of Physical Anthropology
2004 - (Eric Roth, Elliot Fratkin & Martha Nathan) Pastoral Sedentarization and its Effects on Children's Growth, Nutrition and Health among Rendille of Northern Kenya. Human Ecology 32 (5): 531-559.
2001 - (Eric Roth, Elliot Fratkin, Elizabeth Ngugi & Barry Glickman) Female Education, Adolescent Sexuality and the Risk of Sexually Transmitted Infection in Ariaal Rendille Culture. Culture, Health and Sexuality, 3:35-48.
2001 - The Demise of the Sepaade Tradition: Cultural and Biological Explanations. American Anthropologist, 103:1014-1024.
2000 - On Pastoralist Egalitarianism: Consequences of Primogeniture among the Rendille. Current Anthropology 41: 269-271.
2000 - Proximate and Distal Demographic Variables among Rendille Pastoralists. Human Ecology, 27:517-536.