Challenge Of Aids

AIDS research has attracted some of the finest brains among doctors and scientists of the world and yet aan effective cure eludes us.This revised editio imparts knowledge about the disease and a realisation of the challenge that the Human Immunodeciency Virus(H.I.V) poses to mankind.

Thirty years after AIDS was first recognized, the American South constitutes the epicenter of the United States' epidemic. Southern states claim the highest rates of new infections, the most AIDS-related deaths, and the largest number of adults and adoles

The author offers first hand accounts of her work with AIDS patients and counsels the friends and family of people with AIDS on how they can become more compassionate and giving to their dying loved ones.

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 global spread of HIV/AIDS poses grave challenges for individuals and institutions alike -- not least for Christians and the churches. What are the latest scientific findings about AIDS? How can we address the theological and ethical issues raised by AIDS? How can the churches respond to their members who are directly affected by AIDS? How can the churches help to prevent its spread? How are issues of human rights directly related to the spread of AIDS? This WCC study document is the fruit of two years of intensive consultation by an international group of pastors, theologians and ethicists, scientists, doctors and nurses, people living with AIDS and people working with those touched by it. Successive chapters focus on the scientific facts and social, economic and cultural context; theological perspectives; ethical and medical-ethical issues; human rights and responsibilities; and pastoral care by the church as healing community. The challenge of AIDS calls for a forthright and faithful response from Christians and the churches. This book is an important resource for shaping that response.

During the early years of the AIDS epidemic, thousands of Americans became infected with HIV through the nation's blood supply. Because little reliable information existed at the time AIDS first began showing up in hemophiliacs and in others who had received transfusions, experts disagreed about whether blood and blood products could transmit the disease. During this period of great uncertainty, decision-making regarding the blood supply became increasingly difficult and fraught with risk. This volume provides a balanced inquiry into the blood safety controversy, which involves private sexual practices, personal tragedy for the victims of HIV/AIDS, and public confidence in America's blood services system. The book focuses on critical decisions as information about the danger to the blood supply emerged. The committee draws conclusions about what was doneâ€"and recommends what should be done to produce better outcomes in the face of future threats to blood safety. The committee frames its analysis around four critical area: Product treatmentâ€"Could effective methods for inactivating HIV in blood have been introduced sooner? Donor screening and referralâ€"including a review of screening to exlude high-risk individuals. Regulations and recall of contaminated bloodâ€"analyzing decisions by federal agencies and the private sector. Risk communicationâ€"examining whether infections could have been averted by better communication of the risks.

Based on careful analysis of burden of disease and the costs ofinterventions, this second edition of 'Disease Control Priorities in Developing Countries, 2nd edition' highlights achievable priorities; measures progresstoward providing efficient, equitable care; promotes cost-effectiveinterventions to targeted populations; and encourages integrated effortsto optimize health. Nearly 500 experts - scientists, epidemiologists, health economists,academicians, and public health practitioners - from around the worldcontributed to the data sources and methodologies, and identifiedchallenges and priorities, resulting in this integrated, comprehensivereference volume on the state of health in developing countries.

The HIV/AIDS epidemic has presented considerable challenges to social researchers to provide detailed and accurate information about "sensitive" behaviour amongst "hidden" populations, to develop theories to explain and predict how and why behaviour changes; and to carry out assessments of knowledge, attitudes, practices and the effectiveness of health education interventions in shaping these. This volume draws together examples of innovative research which has been conducted in the field of HIV/AIDS and describes the relevance of these methods for research in health behaviour more generally. The chapters are drawn from the work of 12 research groups who, in response to the challenge of HIV/AIDS research, have developed the tools of social research to new degrees of sophistication or put them to use in novel and imaginative ways. While the emphasis in this book is on the methods the researchers have developed, it is in the substantive findings of their studies, and their contribution to our understanding of the epidemic, that the methods have proved their worth.; The AIDS epidemic has "changed the rule" for social research on health and illness. The urgency surrounding the epidemic has given rise to an openness to different disciplines and new approaches within the research community. For example, questions of the reliability and validity of accounts of "private" behaviour have been given new consideration, as have the theoretical underpinnings of research which looks at vulnerable or "disadvantaged" groups within society. The developments described in this volume represent the way social science has been taken forward by researchers who have confronted the challenges posed by research on the social dimensions of HIV/AIDS.