The Caribbean Aids Epidemic

This is an examination of the Caribbean AIDS epidemic.

"Whilst a cure for HIV/AIDS continues to elude scientists, the number of HIV/AIDS cases continues to increase. Education becomes the key to curtailing the spread of the disease. Education and HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean describes the impact of HIV/AIDS on education in both the global and Caribbean contexts and outlines the lessons to be learnt from the global experience. The aim of the book is not only to highlight the role of education in HIV/AIDS prevention but also to look specifically at the education sector, its role and response, as well as the management of the response. It also intends to ensure that the education sector recognises the crucial role it must play in reducing the impact of HIV/AIDS. The text is complete with illustrations on the socioeconomic, health and gender aspects of the disease, and is a useful resource for anyone wanting to obtain precise information about the impact of the disease in the Caribbean. "

Examine the biopsychosocial, environmental, spiritual, and policy issues that affect HIV/AIDS prevention/service delivery issues for Caribbean youth!This groundbreaking book provides an overview and informed discussion of HIV/AIDS as it affects children and adolescents in Antigua, Barbados, Grenada, Jamaica, and The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. With contributions from noted HIV/AIDS experts in the region, it examines the biopsychosocial, environmental, spiritual, and policy issues that impact HIV/AIDS prevention/service delivery issues for Caribbean youth. HIV/AIDS and Children in the English Speaking Caribbean breaks the silence on this subject that has existed throughout the Caribbean--second only to Sub-Saharan Africa in terms of the number of people infected with the disease--by focusing attention on the issues, needs, perspectives, policies, and research that impact those affected by the epidemic in that region. This unique book gives special attention to the distinctive differences among Caribbean countries with varying customs based on colonial influences including language, culture, traditions, and religion. User-friendly tables and figures make the statistical information easy to understand.HIV/AIDS and Children in the English Speaking Caribbean discusses a diversity of topics, including: psycho-cultural issues and adolescents the impact of dance hall music on HIV and adolescents school programs evaluation of residential placements for children with AIDS sexual risk-taking behaviors of Jamaican street boys the inaugural lecture on AIDS at the University of the West Indies . . . and much more. Everyone whose professional life brings them into contact with this population, including social workers, psychologists, counselors, clinicians, nurses and other health care professionals, as well as educators and their students will find HIV/AIDS and Children in the English Speaking Caribbean a very useful resource for understanding the devastating impact of the HIV/AIDS virus on children and adolescents in that part of the world.

This book offers detailed ethnographic studies from Africa and the Caribbean to explain AIDS in a global and comparative third-world context. The essays move beyond medical or epidemiological models, explaining the epidemic in its economic, social, political, and historical contexts.

It is estimated in this region that more than half a million people are infected with HIV. Efforts are needed if inroads are to be made against the AIDS epidemic. Although many Caribbean governments have initiated a limited response to HIV/AIDS much remains to be done. This report provides an overview of the challenges and opportunities in addressing the problem of HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean. It presents a snapshot of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the region and offers examples of ways in which Caribbean countries and regional bodies such as the Caribbean Community have responded to the epidemic, discusses alternative actions for addressing the crisis and highlights a range of strategies for donor coordination and cooperation in the region. Finally the report identifies the potential role of the World Bank in addressing the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the Caribbean

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.

There are an estimated 42 million people worldwide living with HIV and AIDS. In the Caribbean, the statistics are alarming. After sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean has a higher HIV prevalence than any other area of the world. The need to control the spread of HIV is critical. Though medical advances have been successful in slowing the progress of the disease, there remains no cure for HIV and AIDS. In Challenging HIV and AIDS, the contributors, players at various levels in the education sector across the Caribbean, weigh in on the value of education as a means to halt the spread of HIV and AIDS. The contributions are unique to the Caribbean experience and culture and address the root causes of the spread of the epidemic. Reducing ignorance and the accompanying stigma and discrimination as well as addressing issues of sexuality through Health and Family Life Education in schools are identified as effective programmes in addressing the epidemic.