AIDS is the most devastating communicable disease in history, and poor countries have been most severely impacted by the pandemic. Since the mid-1990s, the use of antiretroviral drug therapies has dramatically extended life expectancy and improved life quality for those with HIV/AIDS who can afford the costly treatments. Yet even as it raises new hope, this medical advance has intensified ethical and political questions about AIDS. Antiretroviral use by those with money and access throws the contrasting outcomes among AIDS sufferers throughout the world into high relief. It has also revealed what many people with AIDS have known all along: the disease is not only propagated by the virus, but by racism, entrenched poverty, structural inequality, and the legacy of colonial domination and exploitation.Global AIDS: Myths and Facts aims to present the facts about HIV/AIDS, and empower people for informed, active participation in the global struggle against this plague. To mobilize the energy, commitment, and resources required for the fight, Irwin and Millen tackle 10 destructive myths that hamper implementation of effective and equitable anti-HIV/AIDS programs.World leaders like Kofi Annan have announced treatment and prevention initiatives that are opening new possibilities. But the authors argue that only sustained political pressure from the grassrootsâ__forging links across national boundaries; professional and social categories; and racial, ethnic, and religious identitiesâ__will halt the pandemicâ__s spread.

The most authoritative account published to date on the history, spread, and chilling repercussions of one of the deadliest pandemics the world has ever seen. Global AIDS Crisis scrutinizes the scourge of HIV and the AIDS virus throughout the world through the eyes of one of the top AIDS researchers in the world. From Botswana and sub-Saharan Africa to Thailand, Romania, and Brazil, an exploration of developing countries with limited access to healthcare and scarce resources reveals how such factors as tourism, international travel, war, and mobility have facilitated the insidious spread of HIV and AIDS. Candid discussions of sensitive issues such as stigma and its effects on morale and health complement scientific and medical inquiries into the origins of the disease and the development of antiretroviral therapies. An analysis of groundbreaking solutions such as "medication adherence partners," prevention strategies, and current vaccine models adds a glimmer of hope to a seemingly hopeless crisis.

This timely book looks critically at the policy response to AIDS and its institutionalization over time. It raises important questions about who benefits, who decides, and in whose interests decisions are made. Taking the early international response to the epidemic as its starting point, and focusing on the work of agencies such as UNAIDS, it identifies two logics underpinning strategy to date. First, the idea of HIV as a ‘global emergency’ which calls for an extraordinary response. Second, the claim that medicine offers the best way of dealing with it. The book also identified the rise of something more dominant – namely Global AIDS – or the logic and system that seeks to displace all others. Promulgated by UNAIDS and its partner agencies, Global AIDS claims to speak the truth on behalf of affected persons and communities everywhere. Founded on solidarity claims concerning the international HIV movement, and distinctive knowledge practices which determine what needs to be done. Alternative views about the nature of the epidemic or the best response are rejected as irrelevant for falling outside the master framing of the epidemic that Global AIDS provides. But to what extent is this biomedical and emergency framing of the epidemic sustainable, and to what extent does it speak to the sustainability of lives as affected people wish them to be lived? Does scientific and biomedical advance provide all the answers, or do important social and political issues need to be addressed? This book provides an innovative framework with which to think about these and other sustainability challenges for the future.

`A fascinating book... an interesting collection of papers of potential importance in that the Indian epidemic could impact significantly on the UK... well worth reading' - Public Health `Living with the AIDS Virus presents a detailed analysis of the effort to control AIDS in India, with contributions from those who have been involved with the campaign over several years.... Provides more food for thought for policy-makers, researchers and programme managers' - Ritu Priya, Nature This volume traces the evolution of the HIV epidemic in India and documents how the largest democracy in the world has responded to it. It describes HIV programmes designed, developed and implemented by various governmental and non-governmental organisations in different parts of the country. Some of these programmes have had significant success in reaching at-risk population groups and in bringing about changes in high-risk behaviour patterns. The contributors highlight the lessons to be learnt from these experiences in order to identify what works, and what does not, in HIV interventions.

Identifying the existing challenges and shortfalls of China's current HIV/AIDS programming, this book provides an understanding of the history of HIV/AIDS in China, comparing government responses to global best practice in prevention and treatment. Considering three key populations in China, namely, female sex workers, people who inject drugs and floating migrants, Living in the Shadows of China's HIV/AIDS Epidemics highlights the effects of high mobility and marginalisation on the spread of HIV in China. It is argued that these groups often suffer from stigmatisation and a lack of human security, resulting in sub-optimal outcomes for HIV/AIDS intervention and prevention efforts and the reinforcement of high-risk behaviours, further contributing to the transmission of the virus to the general population. In adding to the emerging body of literature, this book further elucidates the myriad of challenges posed by HIV/AIDS epidemics, allowing sustained engagement and a fresh insight into how governments might respond to the needs of individuals living with HIV/AIDS, both in China and globally. Including case studies which give voice to research participants in a rich and engaging way, this book will appeal to students and scholars of Chinese Studies, Asian Studies, International Relations and Political Science, as well as those engaged in epidemiological studies in the Health Sciences.

The 2030 health-related Sustainable Development Goals call on countries to end AIDS as a public health threat and also to achieve universal health coverage. The World Health Organization (WHO) promotes primary health care (PHC) as the key mechanism for achieving universal health coverage, and the PHC approach is also essential for ending AIDS and reaching other Sustainable Development Goal targets. This publication helps decision-makers to consider and optimize the synergies between existing and future assets and investments intended for both PHC and disease-specific responses, including HIV.