HIV/AIDS is a catastrophe globally but nowhere more so than in sub-Saharan Africa, which in 2008 accounted for 67 percent of cases worldwide and 91 percent of new infections. The Institute of Medicine recommends that the United States and African nations move toward a strategy of shared responsibility such that these nations are empowered to take ownership of their HIV/AIDS problem and work to solve it.
The AIDS epidemic in Sub-Saharan Africa continues to affect all facets of life throughout the subcontinent. Deaths related to AIDS have driven down the life expectancy rate of residents in Zambia, Kenya, and Uganda with far-reaching implications. This book details the current state of the AIDS epidemic in Africa and what is known about the behaviors that contribute to the transmission of the HIV infection. It lays out what research is needed and what is necessary to design more effective prevention programs.
Infectious diseases are the leading cause of death globally, particularly among children and young adults. The spread of new pathogens and the threat of antimicrobial resistance pose particular challenges in combating these diseases. Major Infectious Diseases identifies feasible, cost-effective packages of interventions and strategies across delivery platforms to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS, other sexually transmitted infections, tuberculosis, malaria, adult febrile illness, viral hepatitis, and neglected tropical diseases. The volume emphasizes the need to effectively address emerging antimicrobial resistance, strengthen health systems, and increase access to care. The attainable goals are to reduce incidence, develop innovative approaches, and optimize existing tools in resource-constrained settings.
This book examines the structural dynamics of HIV among populations at heightened vulnerability to infection as the result of stigma, discrimination and marginalization. It first examines how the socio-structural context shapes HIV risk and how affected populations and national governments and programs have responded to these structural constraints. Chapters focus on structural determinants of HIV risk among transgender women in Guatemala, migrant workers in Mexico, Nigeria and Vietnam, and people who inject drugs in Tanzania. Next, the book examines resilience and community empowerment and mobilization among key populations such as female sex workers in the Dominican Republic and India, and young women and girls in Botswana, Malawi and Mozambique. A third set of chapters explores how national responses to HIV have addressed the role of structural factors in diverse political, geographic and epidemic settings including: Brazil, South Africa, Ukraine and the USA. Ultimately, effectiveand sustainable responses to HIV among marginalized groups must be grounded in an in-depth understanding of the factors that create vulnerability and risk and impede access to services. Throughout, this book brings together a rigorous social science research perspective with a strong rights-based approach to inform improvements in HIV programs and policies. It offers new insights into how to better address HIV and the health and human rights of historically excluded communities and groups.
With insightful discussion of program evaluation and the efforts of the Centers for Disease Control, this book presents a set of clear-cut recommendations to help ensure that the substantial resources devoted to the fight against AIDS will be used most effectively. This expanded edition of Evaluating AIDS Prevention Programs covers evaluation strategies and outcome measurements, including a realistic review of the factors that make evaluation of AIDS programs particularly difficult. Randomized field experiments are examined, focusing on the use of alternative treatments rather than placebo controls. The book also reviews nonexperimental techniques, including a critical examination of evaluation methods that are observational rather than experimentalâ€"a necessity when randomized experiments are infeasible.
Increased HIV screening may help identify more people with the disease, but there may not be enough resources to provide them with the care they need. The Institute of Medicine's Committee on HIV Screening and Access to Care concludes that more practitioners must be trained in HIV/AIDS care and treatment and their hospitals, clinics, and health departments must receive sufficient funding to meet a growing demand for care.
' Awarded the Annual Award for Distinguished Scholarly Book in Applied Communication, by the National Communication Association, USA? `This gripping narrative not only documents the history of humankind's interaction with a clever virus, it brings to the forefront the much and understated and underused role of communication in HIV and AIDS prevention, care and treatment. Singhal and Rogers remind us that our global environment is shaped by powerful communication means and methods that, if properly harnessed, can help defeat the plague of the 21st century' - Neil McKee, Senior Technical Advisor for HIV/AIDS and Adolescent Health, Johns Hopkins University `This book is an important contribution to AIDS education globally. The rich and diverse cases analyze, humanize and contextualize the continuum of HIV/AIDS prevention, care and support. Researchers and practitioners will find this book most useful' - Collins Airhihenbuwa, Professor of Bio-Behavioural Health, Penn State University `Educating people about AIDS is one of the biggest communication challenges that we face today. This remarkable book is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand the challenges and ways to overcome it. Thorough and hopeful, this is one of those books that can actually make a difference in this world' - Emanuel Rosen, author of 'The Anatomy of Buzz' `A thoroughly readable and inspiring book by two of the world's foremost health communication experts. Accessible and personalised, it is a "must-read" for all those interested in AIDS prevention, care and support' - Shereen Usdin, Co-Founder of the Soul City Institute of Health and Development Communication, South Africa `This book provides a comprehensive analysis of the strategies related to HIV/AIDS communications. It is published at a critical moment as the world increasingly realizes the role of communication in the fight against HIV/AIDS' - Rafael Obregon, Social Communication Advisor, Pan American Health Organization `Combating AIDS is slickly written using commicators' theories, taking the reader step-by-step through various arguments, and using repitition to ingrain them in the reader's mind' - Ritu Priya, Nature HIV/AIDS is a matter of global concern. The world is now more than 20 years into the HIV/AIDS crisis with no vaccine in sight, and relatively few effective and sustainable prevention programs. Although the rate of HIV infection and AIDS deaths has declined in the richer nations of the developed world, infection rates are soaring in developing countries. AIDS is now the leading cause of death in Africa, and the fourth leading cause of death globally. The purpose of this book is to synthesize critical lessons about effective HIV/AIDS prevention programmes, with a major emphasis on communication strategies. The authors feel that despite the growing AIDS crisis, the world is making poor use of behaviour change and communication strategies for HIV/AIDS prevention. To begin with, the role of communication strategies in HIV prevention, care and support has been grossly underestimated. Prevention is shortchanged, despite the fact that no cure for AIDS has been found, and the cost of anti-retroviral therapy is out of reach for most who need it. Many communication strategies are culturally inappropriate, so they may offend public sensitivities, which is easy to do when dealing with a sensitive topic that involves sex, stigma and death. Combating AIDS: Communicaton Strategies in Action focuses on communication strategies that could mobilize political action, target high-risk groups, and overcome stigma. The authors have also described and analyzed the value of entertainment-education strategy in HIV prevention
This volume examines the complex medical, social, ethical, financial, and scientific problems arising from the AIDS epidemic and offers dozens of public policy and research recommendations for an appropriate national response to this dread disease.
Europe's "Black Death" contributed to the rise of nation states, mercantile economies, and even the Reformation. Will the AIDS epidemic have similar dramatic effects on the social and political landscape of the twenty-first century? This readable volume looks at the impact of AIDS since its emergence and suggests its effects in the next decade, when a million or more Americans will likely die of the disease. The Social Impact of AIDS in the United States addresses some of the most sensitive and controversial issues in the public debate over AIDS. This landmark book explores how AIDS has affected fundamental policies and practices in our major institutions, examining: How America's major religious organizations have dealt with sometimes conflicting values: the imperative of care for the sick versus traditional views of homosexuality and drug use. Hotly debated public health measures, such as HIV antibody testing and screening, tracing of sexual contacts, and quarantine. The potential risk of HIV infection to and from health care workers. How AIDS activists have brought about major change in the way new drugs are brought to the marketplace. The impact of AIDS on community-based organizations, from volunteers caring for individuals to the highly political ACT-UP organization. Coping with HIV infection in prisons. Two case studies shed light on HIV and the family relationship. One reports on some efforts to gain legal recognition for nonmarital relationships, and the other examines foster care programs for newborns with the HIV virus. A case study of New York City details how selected institutions interact to give what may be a picture of AIDS in the future. This clear and comprehensive presentation will be of interest to anyone concerned about AIDS and its impact on the country: health professionals, sociologists, psychologists, advocates for at-risk populations, and interested individuals.
The purpose of this document is to provide guidance to national AIDS programmes and partners on the use of indicators to measure and report on the country response. The 2016 United Nations Political Declaration on Ending AIDS, adopted at the United Nations General Assembly High-Level Meeting on AIDS in June 2016, mandated UNAIDS to support countries in reporting on the commitments in the Political Declaration. The Political Declaration on Ending AIDS built on three previous political declarations: the 2001 Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS, the 2006 Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS and the 2011 Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS.
