Prevention through appropriate behavior is the best weapon available to fight further spread of HIV infection. However, individuals take necessary actions to prevent diseases such as AIDS only when they are properly informed and they feel motivated to respond to the information they possess. In order to achieve a clearer understanding of these two facets of the prevention process, this book examines the interplay of the messages individuals receive about AIDS at the public level and the messages exchanged between individuals at the interpersonal level. The specific purpose of the book is to provide a theoretical and conceptual foundation for understanding the pragmatic concerns related to the AIDS crisis in the United States and other parts of the world. The book represents the first systematic examination of how theory informs our understanding of AIDS and communication processes. Contributors explore the issues from a variety of theoretical and conceptual viewpoints. Their goal is to stimulate thought which will lead to the pragmatic application of the ideas presented. The chapters focus on four general communication concerns: * interpersonal interaction as it relates to choices individuals make about safer sex practices, * theory and practice of public campaigns about AIDS, * intercultural issues, and * critical and descriptive approaches for understanding news coverage of AIDS.

This new edition of Dr. Schoub's informative and lucid account brings the reader up to date on the current understanding of the natural history of HIV infection, new approaches to management of infection and disease, and improvements in diagnostic capabilities. This book, aimed at the general reader, bridges the gap between specialist science literature and basic educational material available to the general public. Helpful and informative diagrams are adeptly utilized to explain the basic biology of the HIV virus and the immune system that it so lethally undermines. As well as exploring the complex social, legal, and ethical issues surrounding infection, Schoub looks ahead to the prospects for a vaccine. This volume is a valuable handbook for all those in search of a better understanding of HIV infection and its consequences.

The first comprehensive Indian work on HIV/AIDS, with each contributing author an expert in his/her field of specialisation. It comprehensively covers the issues and complexities of this virus/disease, keeping in view the Indian scenario the social cultural background, constrained financial and infrastructural resources, and the peculiar and distinct HIV strains and opportunistic profile, compared to western countries.

HIV/AIDS affects women worldwide. Elderly women bear a disproportionate burden of caring for those who are afflicted with the disease, while young women increasingly comprise the majority of new HIV cases. Intervention programs often fail to take into account the particular situations and behaviors that make women more vulnerable than men. Though policy debates increasingly include women and gender considerations, funds and resources for women, especially those already suffering with HIV/AIDS, remain inadequate. Women's Experiences with HIV/AIDS gives voice to the experience of individual women whose personal stories reveal the daily struggles and concerns that fill their lives, but are ignored in the larger dialogues about HIV/AIDS. Women and men from diverse backgrounds discuss the differences between women within and across cultures and how particular traditions and attitudes can affect the prevention of, or vulnerability to, HIV/AIDS. The authors address not only women's empirical experiences, but also their personal feelings, beliefs, and expectations as reflected in their narratives. Approaching the issue from several disciplines, Women's Experiences with HIV/AIDS paves the way for the empowerment of women by bringing them directly into the debates concerned with their protection against HIV/AIDS. This collection, edited by two well-known scholars in this field, provides a much-needed critical examination of the interventions and policies that do not yet fully address the needs and limitations of women and girls suffering with, or confronting the possibility of, infection.

Collection of essays considering HIV/AIDS in relation to women and vulnerability, and how transmission maybe influenced by individual, social, economic and political factors.