The Epidemiological Impact Of An Hiv Aids Vaccine In Developing Countries

It has now been 25 years since the apocryphal report in the CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report dated June 5, 1981 entitled, “Pneumocystis Pneumonia - Los Angeles”, which announced what was to become HIV/AIDS. HIV has now affected virtually all countries that have looked for it and has had a devastating impact on the public health and medical care infrastructure around the world. HIV/AIDS has also disproportionately affected nations with the least capacity to confront it, especially the developing world nations in Sub-Saharan Africa, South and Southeast Asia, and the emerging republics of Eastern and Central Asia. The pandemic, unlike any other disease of our time, has had profound impacts on the practice of public health itself: bringing affected communities into decision making; demanding North-South partnerships and collaborations; and changing the basic conduct of clinical and prevention trials research. While much has been written in scholarly publications for medical, epidemiologic and disease control specialists, there is no comprehensive review of the public health impact and response to HIV/AIDS in the developing world. This edited volume seeks to systematically describe the emergence and form of the epidemics (epidemiology), the social, community and political response, and the various measures to confront and control the epidemic, with varying levels of success. Of particular importance are strategies that appear to have been useful in ameliorating the epidemic, while contrasting the situation in a neighboring country or region where contrasting prevention or care initiatives have had a deleterious outcome. Common to all responses has been the international multi-sectoral response represented by the Global Fund for HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, and the Gates Foundation, among others, to promote HIV pharmacologic therapy in resource-poor settings. The chapter authors will explore the political challenges in meeting HIV/AIDS prevention and care in concert with the public health realities in specific country and regional context.

"Demand" for AIDS vaccines varies by level of risk and by national wealth. At-risk individuals in poor countries suffer on both counts. Providing funds to develop and distribute AIDS vaccines should be a global concern.

The AIDS Pandemic explores the ways in which HIV/AIDS has, and continues to transform the wide range of related disciplines it touches. Novel perspectives are provided by a unique panel of internationally recognised experts who cover the unprecedented impact onf AIDS on culture, demographics and politics around the world, including how it affected the worlds' economy, health sciences, epidemiology and public health. This important far- reaching analysis uses the lessons learned from a wide array of disciplines to help us understand the current status and evolution of the pandemic, as it continues to evolve. * Unique and timely presentation of new theories and perspectives* Concentrates on the changes that have taken place in a broad array of related disciplines* Provides key contextual information, for those new to the field or at interface areas between disciplines* Includes an international focus on evolving African and Asian experiences* Focuses on the current strategies for developing vaccines and microbicides* Outlines harm reduction and prevention programs* Explores issues related to delivery of life-saving AIDS medications in resource-constrained environments