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Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Social issues > Illness & addiction: social aspects > AIDS: social aspects
Changing the course of AIDS is an in-depth evaluation of a new and exciting way to create the kind of much-needed behavioral change that could affect the course of the global health crisis of HIV/AIDS. This case study from the South African HIV/AIDS epidemic demonstrates that regular workers serving as peer educators can be as - or even more - effective agents of behavioral change than experts who lecture about the facts and so-called appropriate health care behavior. After spending six years researching the response of large South African companies to the epidemic that is decimating their workforce as well as South African communities, David Dickinson describes the promise of this grassroots intervention - workers educating one another in the workplace and community - and the limitations of traditional top-down strategies. Dickinson's book takes us right into the South African workplace to show how effective and yet enormously complex peer education really is. We see what it means when workers directly tackle the kinds of sexual, gender, religious, ethnic, and broader social and political taboos that make behavior change so difficult, particularly when that behavior involves sex and sexuality. Dickinson's findings show that people who are not officially health care experts or even health care workers can be skilled and effective educators. In this book we see why peer education has so much to offer grappling with the HIV/AIDS epidemic and why those interested in changing behaviors to ameliorate other health problems such as obesity, alcoholism, and substance abuse have so much to learn from the South African example.
Changing the Course of AIDS is an in-depth evaluation of a new and exciting way to create the kind of much-needed behavioral change that could affect the course of the global health crisis of HIV/AIDS. This case study from the South African HIV/AIDS epidemic demonstrates that regular workers serving as peer educators can be as or even more effective agents of behavioral change than experts who lecture about the facts and so-called appropriate health care behavior. After spending six years researching the response of large South African companies to the epidemic that is decimating their workforce as well as South African communities, David Dickinson describes the promise of this grassroots intervention workers educating one another in the workplace and community and the limitations of traditional top-down strategies. Dickinson's book takes us right into the South African workplace to show how effective and yet enormously complex peer education really is. We see what it means when workers directly tackle the kinds of sexual, gender, religious, ethnic, and broader social and political taboos that make behavior change so difficult, particularly when that behavior involves sex and sexuality. Dickinson's findings show that people who are not officially health care experts or even health care workers can be skilled and effective educators. In this book we see why peer education has so much to offer societies grappling with the HIV/AIDS epidemic and why those interested in changing behaviors to ameliorate other health problems like obesity, alcoholism, and substance abuse have so much to learn from the South African example."
"Represents a long-overdue examination of anthropology's role in the fight against AIDS, bringing together the anthropological perspective and the problem of AIDS like no other."--Brian Joseph Gilley, University of Vermont Until now, there has been no one text that discusses the norms, beliefs, and behaviors that affect how societies respond to HIV/AIDS around the world. The Anthropology of AIDS synthesizes data from anthropology, psychology, sociology, biology, and medicine, and incorporates the author's more than two decades of work as a medical anthropologist, HIV test counselor, and sex therapist. Designed for use in a range of college courses, this volume combines a solid introduction to the epidemiology of HIV and AIDS with a wealth of material exploring the cross-cultural societal impact of the disease. Patricia Whelehan provides a broad overview of the epidemic since 1981, focusing on current social, cultural, political, and economic factors throughout the world. She brings a relativistic, comparative, and holistic approach to look at HIV/AIDS as both a pandemic and an intercultural health problem. She also explores the ethics and controversies surrounding HIV testing, treatment, and research in the United States and other specific societies, including Thailand, Brazil, and areas of Sub-Saharan Africa. Written in a clear, concise, and engaging tone, this timely and necessary text will prove an invaluable resource for instructors and undergraduates across many academic disciplines.
Popular understanding of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Sub-Saharan Africa is riddled with contradiction and speculation. This is revealed in HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa, which explores the various contexts in which debate about HIV/AIDS takes place and examines how the pandemic is perceived by scholars, religious leaders and traditional healers, among others – in communities in and around South Africa. Using a social theory lens, the book focuses on not only the cultural and contextual practices, but also the methodological and epistemological orientations around HIV/AIDS in education that shape community and individual interpretations of this disease. The book avoids a simplistic approach to the pandemic, by exploring the complex and sometimes contradictory spaces in which HIV/AIDS discourses are negotiated, and thus goes some way to present a more hermeneutic profile of the HIV/AIDS problem. HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa is as much about identity construction as it is about HIV/AIDS. The authors recognise the interrelatedness of sex, sexuality, identity and HIV/AIDS in the shaping of individual and collective identities and have thus gone beyond merely asking questions about what people know.
In Melanesia, rates of HIV infection are among the highest in the Pacific and increasing rapidly, with grave humanitarian, development, and political implications. There is a great need for social research on HIV/AIDS in the region to provide better insights into the sensitive issues surrounding HIV transmission. This collection, the first book on HIV and AIDS in the Pacific region, gathers together stunning and original accounts of the often surprising ways that people make sense of the AIDS epidemic in various parts of Melanesia. The volume addresses substantive issues concerning AIDS and contemporary sexualities, relations of power, and moralities - themes that provide a powerful backdrop for twenty-first century understandings of the tensions between sexuality, religion, and politics in many parts of the world.
Reflecting the current state of research into the communication aspects of HIV/AIDS, this volume explores AIDS-related communication scholarship, moving forward from the 1992 publication AIDS: A Communication Perspective. Editors Timothy Edgar, Seth M. Noar, and Vicki S. Freimuth have developed this up-to-date collection to focus on today's key communication issues in the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Chapters herein examine the interplay of the messages individuals receive about AIDS at the public level as well as the messages exchanged between individuals at the interpersonal level. Acknowledging how the face of HIV/AIDS has changed since 1992, the volume promotes the perspective that an understanding of effective communication through both mediated and interpersonal channels is essential to winning the continued battle against AIDS. Issues addressed here include: Social stigma associated with the disease, social support and those living with HIV/AIDS, and the current state of HIV testing Parent-child discussions surrounding HIV/AIDS and safer sexual behavior, and cultural sensitivity relating to developing HIV prevention and sex education programs The effectiveness of health campaigns to impact attitudes, norms, and behavior, as well as the current state of entertainment education and its ability to contribute to HIV prevention News media coverage of HIV/AIDS and the impact of the agenda-setting function on public opinion and policy making Health literacy and its importance to the health and well-being of those undergoing HIV treatment. The role of technological innovations, most notably the Internet, used for both prevention interventions as well as risky behavior The volume also includes exemplars that showcase the diversity of approaches to health communication used to combat the HIV/AIDS epidemic. These cases include interpersonal and mass communication mediums; traditional along with new media and technology; research by academics and practitioners; individual as well as community-based approaches; work based in the United States and internationally; and campaigns directed at at-risk, HIV- positive, as well as general populations. With new topics, new contributors, and a broadened scope, this book goes beyond a revision of the 1992 volume to reflect the current state of communication research on HIV/AIDS across key contexts. It is designed for academics, researchers, practitioners, and students in health communication, health psychology, and other areas of AIDS research. As a unique examination of communication research, it makes an indelible contribution to the growing knowledge base of communication approaches to combating HIV/AIDS.
The acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), is a disease of the body's immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). AIDS is characterised by the death of CD4 cells (an important part of the body's immune system), which leaves the body vulnerable to life-threatening conditions such as infections and cancers. This book explores how this deadly virus has affected America and high-risk children, and presents reports on different forms of funding provided by the international and United States governments, and the fluctuating rates of AIDS cases.
Of the more than 40 million people around the world currently living with HIV/AIDS, two million live in Latin America and the Caribbean. In an engaging chronicle illuminated by his travels in the region, Shawn Smallman shows how the varying histories and cultures of the nations of Latin America have influenced the course of the pandemic. He demonstrates that a disease spread in an intimate manner is profoundly shaped by impersonal forces. In Latin America, Smallman explains, the AIDS pandemic has fractured into a series of subepidemics, driven by different factors in each country. Examining cultural issues and public policies at the country, regional, and global levels, he discusses why HIV has had such a heavy impact on Honduras, for instance, while leaving the neighboring state of Nicaragua relatively untouched, and why Latin America as a whole has kept infection rates lower than other global regions, such as Africa and Asia. Smallman draws on the most recent scientific research as well as his own interviews with AIDS educators, gay leaders, drug traffickers, crack addicts, transvestites, and doctors in Cuba, Brazil, and Mexico. Highlighting the realities of gender, race, sexuality, poverty, politics, and international relations throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, Smallman brings a fresh perspective to understanding the cultures of the region as well as the global AIDS crisis.
HIV/AIDS continues to devastate the lives of individuals and families, communities and countries. A growing numbness about HIV/AIDS, however, infects many people. Many fail to recognize that the AIDS epidemic is still getting worse, now spreading rapidly in the world's most populous countries. To help raise and renew consciousness about this threat to the world, Ethics and AIDS: Compassion and Justice in Global Crisis summarizes the basics of the AIDS epidemic and presents key themes insights based on the Hebrew and Christian scriptures. This ethical perspective is the result of decades of dialogue among Roman Catholics and other Christians, building on the strengths of the various traditions. This book offers a Christian view, with special emphasis on Roman Catholic thought; many of its ethical insights, however, can be shared by other faith traditions and by all people who desire to respond to the AIDS pandemic.
One in six adults in sub-Saharan Africa will die in their prime of AIDS. It is a stunning cataclysm, plunging life expectancy to pre-modern levels and orphaning millions of children. Yet political trauma does not grip Africa. People living with AIDS are not rioting in the streets or overthrowing governments. In fact, democratic governance is spreading. Contrary to fearful predictions, the social fabric is not being ripped apart by bands of unsocialized orphan children. AIDS and Power explains why social and political life in Africa goes on in a remarkably normal way, and how political leaders have successfully managed the AIDS epidemic so as to overcome any threats to their power. Partly because of pervasive denial, AIDS is not a political priority for electorates, and therefore not for democratic leaders either. AIDS activists have not directly challenged the political order, instead using international networks to promote a rights-based approach to tackling the epidemic. African political systems have proven resilient in the face of AIDS's stresses, and rulers have learned to co-opt international AIDS efforts to their own political ends. In contrast with these successes, African governments and international agencies have a sorry record of tackling the epidemic itself. AIDS and Power concludes without political incentives for HIV prevention, this failure will persist.
Current trends of HIV transmission and prevalence clearly show that the epidemic is fuelled by gender-based vulnerabilities. Close to 60 per cent of adults living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa are women, and almost 75 per cent of young people living with HIV in southern Africa are female. It is also clear that issues of gender need to be mainstreamed into attempts to curb the further spread of the epidemic. Research on the gender dimensions of HIV/AIDS needs to be augmented. New and existing research must be integrated into policy. Policy must translate into action, and good practice must inform further policy. All presentations provided a gendered perspective on the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Two of the papers provide an in-depth overview of gender mainstreaming and suggest tools for its application within the HIV/AIDS sector. Three papers provide examples from different countries of the application of gender mainstreaming. The title concludes with a summary of lessons learnt from the presentations, and briefly outlines ways of taking these lessons forward.
South Africa has, until now, focused its HIV prevention efforts on youth and adults, and now needs to expand its focus to include children. Much is already known about vertical transmission, which is the dominant mode of HIV transmission among children. However, little investigation has been done into the potential for horizontal transmission of HIV on the population below reproductive age. This report focuses on children aged 2-9 years and, using a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods, presents evidence on the potential for HIV transmission in dental, maternity and paediatric services in public health facilities. A new finding concerns the practise of shared breastfeeding. The study was commissioned and funded by the Nelson Mandela foundation, with additional support from the Free State department of Health and the Nelson Mandela Children's fund.
The need and ability for social health and business professionals to work together has emerged in the form of public-private partnerships (PPP). PPPs exist to combat HIV/AIDS globally, but little comprehensive documentation exists about how and why HIV/AIDS PPP programs were created. In Analysis of Experience, Muhiuddin Haider and Ahila Subramanian examine the landscape and benchmarks of HIV/AIDS PPP programs. Haider and Subramanian's study is one of the first to provide effective protocols, which will ensure quality service in these programs, while giving insight to global health and business professionals engaged in mutually beneficial enterprises.
Self-sacrificing mothers and forgiving wives, caretaking lesbians, and vigilant maternal surrogates these "good women" are all familiar figures in the visual and print culture relating to AIDS. In a probing critique of that culture, Katie Hogan demonstrates ways in which literary and popular works use the classic image of the nurturing female to render "queer" AIDS more acceptable, while consigning women to conventional roles and reinforcing the idea that everyone with this disease is somehow suspect.In times of crisis, the figure of the idealized woman who is modest and selfless has repeatedly surfaced in Western culture as a balm and a source of comfort and as a means of mediating controversial issues. Drawing on examples from journalism, medical discourse, fiction, drama, film, television, and documentaries, Hogan describes how texts on AIDS reproduce this historically entrenched paradigm of sacrifice and care, a paradigm that reinforces biases about race and sexuality. Hogan believes that the growing nostalgia for women's traditional roles has deflected attention away from women's own health needs. Throughout her book, she depicts caretaking as a fundamental human obligation, but one that currently falls primarily to those members of society with the least power. Only by rejecting the stereotype of the "good woman," she says, can Americans begin to view caretaking as the responsibility of the entire society."
The purpose of this book is to encourage professionals to become involved in family-oriented services to prevent the spread of HIV and its consequences and to provide examples of strategies for mobilizing family resources in the prevention and adaptation to HIV and AIDS. The members of the NIMH Consortium on Families and HIV/AIDS have prepared these chapters building on their research and practice experience. Together some of the nation?s most capable behavioral prevention and treatment scientists have developed these prevention programs based on sound scientific principles and are currently testing them in rigorous controlled trials in communities across the country. While these interventions have not yet been demonstrated to be effective, they have received rigorous peer review by independent scientists conducted under the auspices of the NIMH, and were considered worthy of research support. This book focuses on populations were HIV infection is now quickly spreading, and yet relatively little is know about family interventions with these populations. The prevention programs address the spectrum of programs to prevent the spread of HIV and its consequences. The HIV prevention programs are intended to promote greater responsibility in general, and thus encourage healthier lifestyles with respect to drug and sexual behavior among family members. Although not exclusively, a large proportion of the programs presented in this book were designed for African American populations and address the Prevention of the spread of HIV/AIDS and its consequences. With that caveat, however, it should be noted that these interventions can also be adapted for use with other cultural groups, other chronic diseases, STDs and multiple family configurations.
The purpose of this book is to encourage professionals to become involved in family-oriented services to prevent the spread of HIV and its consequences and to provide examples of strategies for mobilizing family resources in the prevention and adaptation to HIV and AIDS. The members of the NIMH Consortium on Families and HIV/AIDS have prepared these chapters building on their research and practice experience. Together some of the nation?s most capable behavioral prevention and treatment scientists have developed these prevention programs based on sound scientific principles and are currently testing them in rigorous controlled trials in communities across the country. While these interventions have not yet been demonstrated to be effective, they have received rigorous peer review by independent scientists conducted under the auspices of the NIMH, and were considered worthy of research support. This book focuses on populations were HIV infection is now quickly spreading, and yet relatively little is know about family interventions with these populations. The prevention programs address the spectrum of programs to prevent the spread of HIV and its consequences. The HIV prevention programs are intended to promote greater responsibility in general, and thus encourage healthier lifestyles with respect to drug and sexual behavior among family members. Although not exclusively, a large proportion of the programs presented in this book were designed for African American populations and address the Prevention of the spread of HIV/AIDS and its consequences. With that caveat, however, it should be noted that these interventions can also be adapted for use with other cultural groups, other chronic diseases, STDs and multiple family configurations.
When a nursing facility for AIDS patients is planned for a city neighborhood, residents might be expected to respond, "Not in my backyard." But, as Jane Balin recounts in A Neighborhood Divided, when that community is known for its racial and ethnic diversity and liberal attitudes, public reaction becomes less predictable and in many ways more important to comprehend.An ethnographer who spent two years talking with inhabitants of a progressive neighborhood facing this prospect, Jane Balin demonstrates that the controversy divided residents in surprising ways. She discovered that those most strongly opposed to the facility lived furthest away, that families with young children were evenly represented in the two camps, and that African Americans followed a Jewish community leader in opposing the home while dismissing their own minister's support of it. By viewing each side sympathetically and allowing participants to express their true feelings about AIDS, the author invites readers to recognize their own anxieties over this sensitive issue. Balin's insightful work stresses the importance of uncovering the ideologies and fears of middle-class Americans in order to understand the range of responses that AIDS has provoked in our society. Its ethnographic approach expands the parameters of NIMBY research, offering a clearer picture of the multi-faceted anxieties that drive responses to AIDS at both the local and national levels.
Today young adults are contracting HIV more rapidly than virtually any period during the past two decades. Young women, particularly those who are black and Latina, are bearing the brunt of this 'new wave' of infection. Putting Risk in Perspective explores the many factors associated with HIV infection among young black women. HIV infection often occurs as a result of high risk behavior. Understanding what causes a young woman to take sexual and reproductive risks requires a consideration of the kinds of life issues she faces. Drawing on ethnographic study and interviews, RenZe T. White introduces to the reader many young women who are dealing with economic pressures, family relationships, dating and courtship, intimate relationship issues, and questions of sexual identity. These along with the mythology surrounding HIV and AIDS_and knowledge about contraception_influence whether or not a black teenager will engage in risky activity. This powerful book shows why the fight against AIDS must incorporate a commitment to improving the social and economic opportunities available to young black women.
Along with the distress associated with the diagnosis of a life-threatening disease, individuals with HIV also face huge social challenges based on reactions to their disease by other individuals and society. While there are numerous books covering research on risk of HIV infection and attitudes about the disease, limited empirical research on the social interaction process in coping with HIV exists. Carefully edited, HIV and Social Interaction explores the seropositive personAEs relationships with family, friends, intimate partners, and other members of his or her social network. The contributors present original theoretical models and research, derived from psychology and communication. Written with clarity, HIV and Social Interaction indicates how being HIV positive influences an individualAEs social interactions as well as interpersonal relationships. Chapters include the following topics: + The stigmatization of HIV and AIDS + Weighing the benefits and risks of self-disclosure about the HIV diagnosis + Accessing, finding, and maintaining quality social support + The value of group residence facilities for persons with AIDS + The effects of HIV on intimate relationships + The impact on volunteers who provide assistance to persons with AIDS In addition, the chapter authors discuss implications of their work for interventions and assisting HIV positive individuals, members of their social networks, health providers, and social services providers. A deeper understanding of these and related issues is vital for the comprehensive and empathetic delivery of services by healthcare professionals. HIV and Social Interaction is equally important for social scientists, students, as well as persons who are HIV-positive and anyone within their social network.
AIDS Alibis tackles the cultural landscape upon which AIDS, often accompanied by poverty, drug addiction, and crime, proliferates on a global scale. Stephanie Kane layers stories of individuals and events -- from Chicago to Belize City, to cyberspace -- to illustrate the paths of HIV infection and the effects of environment, government intervention, and social mores. Linking ordinary yet kindred lives in communities around the globe, Kane challenges the assumptions underlying the use of police and courts to solve health problems. The stories reveal the dynamics that determine how the policy decisions of white-collar health care professionals actually play out in real life. By focusing on life-changing social problems, the narratives highlight the contradictions between public health and criminal law. Look at how HIV has transformed our social consciousness, from intimate touch to institutional outreach. But, Kane argues, these changes are dwarfed by the United States's refusal to stop the war on drugs, in effect misdirecting resources and awareness. AIDS Alibis combines empirical and interpretive methods in a path-breaking attempt to recognize the extent to which coercive institutional practices are implicated in HIV transmission patterns. Kane shows how th e virus feeds on the politics of inequality and indifference, even as it exploits the human need for intimacy and release.
The HIV/AIDS epidemic has been a major catastrophe for gay
communities. In less than two decades, the disease has profoundly
changed the lives of gay men and lesbians. Not just a biological
and viral agent, HIV has become an opportunistic social invader,
reshaping communities and the distribution of wealth, altering the
social careers of gay professionals and the patterns of entry into
gay and lesbian life, and giving birth to groups like ACT UP and
Queer Nation.
AIDS "None of us is so unique as to be exempt from the human condition." As the numbers of reported AIDS cases continue to climb, and the disease continues to take more and more lives, those who have to deal with the complexities of this problem continue to ask: "How do we care for these terminally ill?" Using letters from patients, questions and answers between patient and doctor, and other compassionate tools, Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, the world's foremost expert on death and dying, shows us how to comfort the seriously ill and help AIDS patients through the critical "stages of dying" She addresses the stigma surrounding AIDS as a "gay disease" and makes a special plea for prisoners with AIDS, for women and children with AIDS, and for babies with AIDS. This remarkable book is warm and informative on one of the most important subjects of our time.
In an original and stimulating analysis of gender and AIDS, Tamsin Wilton assesses safer sex health promotion and health education discourse, and considers their unintended consequences for the cultural construction of gender and sexuality. Taking a queer/feminist constructionist position, she links issues of power, gender, sexuality and nationalism to offer a sound theoretical foundation for an effective and radical HIV/AIDS health promotion strategy. EnGendering AIDS draws on safer sex materials from the USA, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Scandinavia, and sets current practice against the historical context of VD/STD education, dissecting the role played by STDs in the cultural construction of gender. Wilton debates the meanings that erotic minorities read into bodies and desires, and how these have been transformed by AIDS, and suggests a new model of pornography that disengages the sexually explicit and/or erotically arousing from gendered power relations.
The AIDS epidemic continues to grow in this country and around the world. Currently, the only hope of stopping this tragedy is through interventions that change individual behavior. This book provides an excellent overview of current knowledge and research on how to promote the behaviors of safer sex and safer drug use, which will slow down the spread of HIV. It will be a useful resource for researchers who examine HIV prevention and for community workers and clinicians who wish to use sound, well-tested techniques for their intervention work. In addition, the book can serve as a thorough introduction for students who are new to the area of behavioral research on HIV and AIDS. --from the Overview by Suzanne C. Thompson & Stuart Oskamp Bringing together some of the most active and respected researchers in the field, this volume presents a state-of-the-art, integrated examination of behavioral research aimed at reducing the transmission of HIV. In almost 20 years of battling the AIDS epidemic, one theme has consistently emerged: The solution to stopping the spread of the AIDS virus rests with individual behavior. Understanding and Preventing HIV Risk Behavior grapples with the critical question of how to influence people to change high-risk behaviors, particularly in sexual activity and drug use. The contributors take an in-depth look at the most current HIV and AIDS epidemiological findings; the information-motivation-behavioral skills model of risk behavior; and empirical analyses of contraceptive decision making, denial processes, and the role of attraction in heterosexual behavior. This timely volume also examines research with special populations, including African American youths, Latinos, both gay and straight residents of HIV-impacted communities, active drug users, and adolescents in countries that have different AIDS risk levels and public health policies. Representing the latest in research on safer sex and altering drug use behaviors, Understanding and Preventing HIV Risk Behavior will be a valuable resource for HIV-prevention researchers, community workers, and clinicians who want to utilize research findings in their HIV intervention programs. This volume will also benefit students seeking an up-to-date overview of research on HIV/AIDS risk behavior. |
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