Histories of Sexually Transmitted Diseases and HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa

(Hardback)

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In a series of case studies of sexually transmitted disease and HIV/AIDS from around Africa, contributors examine the social, cultural, and political-economic bases of risk, transmission, and response to epidemic disease. This book brings together major contributions to the historical study of epidemic disease in developing countries and considers how particular constellations of cultural, social, political, and economic factors in different countries have affected the historical patterns of disease and collective (official and community) response to them. This book is a companion volume to Sex, Disease, and Society: A Comparative History of Sexually Transmitted Diseases and HIV/AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (Greenwood, 1997). From this endeavor to provide insight into the conjunctions and disjunctions between the histories of STDs and the AIDS pandemic in Sub-Saharan Africa certain common issues have emerged. These include medical ambiguity and epidemiologic diversity; cultural change; racism; gender, labor migration, and economic instability; and the practice of biomedicine and epidemiology in African contexts. All of these factors are embedded in the colonial legacy and post-colonial political economic conditions across the continent.

Reviews

For those who seek a starting point to understand how the past has influenced the present, the quality is high.-Venereology
It maintains the high standards of its predecessor...-Population Studies
The book provides a wealth of information, and clearly offers important insights to researchers and practicioners struggling to understand and prevent the further spread of the HIV/AIDS epidemic at the beginning of the 21st century....The book is highly recommended for anyone trying to understand and/or contribute to curb the present day STD, HIV/AIDS epidemics in Sub-Saharan Africa.-Adolescent Reproductive Health Network Newsletter
The collection broadens discussion of STDs and AIDS by treating such themes as racism, gender, labor migration, economic instability, and the practice of biomedicine and epidemiology in Africa.-The International Journal of African Historical Studies
This second volume is powerful in the facts that are presented. The contributors have done a magnificent job in giving the reader and insight into a topic "that touches upon core themes and values of any social system: sexuality and the conditions of social reproduction....These are highly researched chapters that provide a wealth of information about STD's and HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharian Africa....This is a must book for all libraries in Africa and a highly recommended book for academic libraries throughout the world.-AIDS Book Review Journal
"For those who seek a starting point to understand how the past has influenced the present, the quality is high."-Venereology
"It maintains the high standards of its predecessor..."-Population Studies
"The book provides a wealth of information, and clearly offers important insights to researchers and practicioners struggling to understand and prevent the further spread of the HIV/AIDS epidemic at the beginning of the 21st century....The book is highly recommended for anyone trying to understand and/or contribute to curb the present day STD, HIV/AIDS epidemics in Sub-Saharan Africa."-Adolescent Reproductive Health Network Newsletter
"The collection broadens discussion of STDs and AIDS by treating such themes as racism, gender, labor migration, economic instability, and the practice of biomedicine and epidemiology in Africa."-The International Journal of African Historical Studies
"This second volume is powerful in the facts that are presented. The contributors have done a magnificent job in giving the reader and insight into a topic "that touches upon core themes and values of any social system: sexuality and the conditions of social reproduction....These are highly researched chapters that provide a wealth of information about STD's and HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharian Africa....This is a must book for all libraries in Africa and a highly recommended book for academic libraries throughout the world."-AIDS Book Review Journal

Author Bio

PHILIP W. SETEL is the Director of the Adult Morbidity and Mortality Project in Tanzania, and a Senior Research Associate at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne Medical School. He is a medical and demographic anthropologist who has done research in Africa and Papua New Guinea. He has conducted several studies of AIDS, sexuality, fertility, and gender. MILTON LEWIS is currently a Senior Fellow of the National Health and Medical Research Council in Australia./e He is a medical historian who has published extensively on the history of sexually transmitted diseases and colonial medical history. He is editor of Sex, Disease, and Society: A Comparative History of Sexually Transmitted Diseases and HIV/AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (Greenwood, 1997). MARYINEZ LYONS is an independent consultant and medical historian engaged in studying the social history of AIDS in Uganda. She is conducting research in affiliation with the Chicago Humanities Institute, University of Chicago, and the University of Cologne. Her previous work includes a monograph on the history of sleeping sickness in the Democratic Republic of Congo.