One Epidemic or Three? Cultural, Social and Historical Aspects of the AIDS Pandemic (From AIDS: Social Representations, Social Practices, P 21-38, 1989, Peter Aggleton, Graham Hart, et al, eds. -- See NCJ-130840)

• NCJ Number: 130842
• Author(s): R Frankenberg
• Date Published: 1989
• Length: 18 pages
• Sale Source: Taylor & Francis Inc.
• Publication Type: Conference Material
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom
• Note: Paper presented at the Second United Kingdom Conference on Social Aspects of AIDS, 1987, London

Annotation

AIDS is characterized by regional geographic patterns and by three related epidemics involving HIV infection, AIDS, and social reaction to the syndrome.

Abstract

AIDS in itself is not a disease in the strict biomedical sense. Rather, it is a syndrome composed of complex symptoms and diseases. Problems raised by AIDS are international, and some of the reasons why HIV infection poses an international problem are medico-technical. Factors combining to make international cooperation a necessity include the long latency period before virus effects are manifest, the speed of modern travel, the impossibility of a global quarantine, the virus' lack of class or race consciousness, and the diverse nature of overt and concealed sexual desires and practices. The three epidemics associated with HIV infection have already had profound effects on every aspect of social action and experience, social relations at an international level, family and household relations, and the social control of supposedly deviant groups. While the advent of HIV infection presents difficulties, it also creates challenges and opportunities. By making racism, sexual oppression, and gross economic and health inequalities within and between nations not only obvious but also threatening to individual, social, national, and international survival, the AIDS syndrome emphasizes the need for concerted and cooperative action at all levels. 26 references and 1 note