AIDS in the Twenty First Century

Essential reading for social and medical scientists and all those interested in infectious diseases and public health, AIDS and the Twenty-First Century examines the social and economic origins and impacts of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. This volume examines the social and economic origins and impacts of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. HIV/AIDS is not only a medical problem. It is an indication of the scale of the global crisis in public health. The authors explain the nature and epidemiology of the disease and the reasons for its rapid spread, illustrating their text with case studies. The main body of the work focuses on the need to look beyond the individual to social and economic conditions, to see health as more than medicine, and to understand the concepts of "wellbeing". They also study the long-term effects of large-scale death and illness on individuals, households and communities, as well as to predict the effect this will have for private enterprise, on government and govrnance and on political life.