Social and Cultural Aspects of the Prevention of the Three Epidemics HIV Infection, AIDS and Counterproductive Societal Reaction to Them (From Global Impact of AIDS, P 191-199, 1988, Alan F Fleming, et al, -- See NCJ-115365)

• NCJ Number: 115372
• Author(s): R Frankenberg
• Date Published: 1988
• Length: 9 pages
• Sale Source: Alan R. Liss, Inc
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Because the problems raised by AIDS are international and involve people of all races and socioeconomic groups, the disease may achieve a renewed acceptance of the need for health promotion and prevention.

Abstract

Preventive health care involves an absolute costs effectiveness. Prevention efforts should focus on the separate social contexts entailed in the three AIDS-related epidemics: 1) HIV infection, 2) the development of the AIDS syndrome and related diseases, and 3) the social difficulties to which both give rise. The AIDS epidemic has already caused formal public health institutions to relate to one another in new and more constructive ways. It is now crucial for researchers and health promoters in both preventive medicine and the media to recognize that accepted behaviors, especially those related to lifestyle and identity, are socially influenced and are not merely autonomous individual or dyadic choices. Observers should also not try to predict how diverse sexual behavior could change or to base their decisions about prevention efforts on their definitions of deviant sexual behavior. It is also important to reject social ostracism of people infected with HIV and AIDS and to work through a global strategy to deal with the disease. 12 references.