HIV & AIDS

"I really enjoyed reading these poems and, because I felt driven forward by them, read them all in one sitting. Part of the loveliness of it for me was the expectation of arriving at yet another arresting line-of being brought to a halt by something piercingly true expressed finely. I was also captivated by Risa Denenberg's contemplation of that place where our most fundamental concerns as humans-love, death, aging, sadness, and the mystery of it all-meet the natural world. I felt myself in the presence of a great honesty about things that matter, and in particular responded to the idea that, despite our existential plight-maybe even because of it-life is a thing of great beauty."-David Guterson, author of Snow Falling on Cedars"'It's too easy to look away, say nothing,' Risa Denenberg tells us in what could be the mantra of a book that steadfastly refuses to do either - a book that takes hold of the reader's gaze and directs our looking at loss and hardship both personal and global, human and animal, physical and emotional. From apocalyptic kitten sonnets to a piercing series of selfie poems, Denenberg's wry, straightforward, penetrating voice is rebuke, meditation, and celebration all at once, gnarly and braided as the beloved trees she offers prayers for. 'Finding something to live for / is my talent, this small raft,' Denenberg writes, and indeed amidst the sorrow, she keeps hold of us, pointing to the everyday, essential miracles of sustenance and small things, of clouds, of the simple and necessary plan to sing, as she does with fierceness and compassion, in gladness."-Corrie Williamson, author of The River Where You Lost My Name¿¿"In this honest and unflinching collection, Denenberg gives us poems that look at hard topics like extinction, climate change, aging, and loss, and tempers them with tenderness, vulnerability, beauty, and delight-delight in the moon, the face of a pet, powdered snow on cedars. Inviting us to grow 'passably fond of rain,' Rain Dweller teaches us how 'Every day, the clouds amaze.'"-Rena Priest, Washington State Poet Laureate, 2021-2023, and author of Patriarchy Blues

Comprehensive ethnographic case studies of people living with HIV and ARVs. In-depth observations of the infrastructural conditions and social dynamics shaping day-to-day work routines at Tanzanian HIV treatment centers. Focus on the financial and infrastructural fragilities of treatment provision at the global and national level (Tanzania). In-depth exploration of the often-disregarded interference of religious and ‘traditional’ healing practices with biomedical HIV-treatment.

Contemporary forms of living and dying in Swaziland cannot be understood apart from the global HIV/AIDS pandemic, according to anthropologist Casey Golomski. In Africa's last absolute monarchy, the story of 15 years of global collaboration in treatment and intervention is also one of ordinary people facing the work of caring for the sick and dying and burying the dead. Golomski's ethnography shows how AIDS posed challenging questions about the value of life, culture, and materiality to drive new forms and practices for funerals. Many of these forms and practicesnewly catered funeral feasts, an expanded market for life insurance, and the kingdom's first crematoriumare now conspicuous across the landscape and culturally disruptive in a highly traditionalist setting. This powerful and original account details how these new matters of death, dying, and funerals have become entrenched in peoples' everyday lives and become part of a quest to create dignity in the wake of a devastating epidemic.

The 2010 edition of the UNAIDS Report on the global AIDS epidemic includes new country-by-country scorecards on key issues facing the AIDS response. Based on the latest data from 182 countries, this global reference book provides comprehensive analysis on the AIDS epidemic and response. For the first time the report includes trend data on incidence from more than 60 countries.The new UNAIDS report shows that the AIDS epidemic has been halted and the world is beginning to reverse the spread of HIV. New HIV infections have fallen by nearly 20% in the last 10 years, AIDS-related deaths are down by nearly 20% in the last five years, and the total number of people living with HIV is stabilizing.

"HIV/AIDS continues to take a tremendous toll on the populations of many countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. In some countries with high HIV prevalence rates, life expectancy has declined by more than a decade and in a few cases by more than two decades. Even in countries with HIV prevalence of around 5 percent (close to the average for sub-Saharan Africa), the epidemic can reverse gains in life expectancy and other health outcomes achieved over one or two decades. This volume highlights work conducted under the umbrella of a World Bank work program on "The Fiscal Dimension of HIV/AIDS," including country studies on Botswana, South Africa, Swaziland, and Uganda. It covers four aspects of the fiscal dimensions of HIV/AIDS: First, it aims for a comprehensive analysis of the fiscal costs of HIV/AIDS, with a wider scope than a costing analysis focusing on only the policy response to HIV/AIDS. Second, it embeds the analysis of HIV/AIDS costs in a discussion of the fiscal context, and interprets these costs as a quasi-liability, not a debt de jure, but a political and fiscal commitment that binds fiscal resources in the future and cannot easily be changed, and very similar to a pension obligation or certain social grants or services. Third, it develops tools to assess the (fiscal dimensions of) trade-offs between HIV/AIDS policies and measures that take into account the persistence of these spending commitments. Fourth, most of the fiscal costs of HIV/AIDS are ultimately caused by new infections, and this study estimates the fiscal resources committed (or saved) by an additional (or prevented) HIV infection. Building on these estimates, the analysis here is able to assess the evolving fiscal burden of HIV/AIDS over time."

Russia and a few other Eurasian countries have been home to the fastest growing epidemics of HIV in the world over the last several years. This volume offers country-specific accounts, authored by the leading players in the analysis of the situation and the fight against the virus.

This book calls into question mainstream assumptions about adolescence that underlie many of our understandings in relation to sexual practices and drug use among the young. It provides a more complex view of the transition to adulthood as not merely biologically driven, but rather socially and culturally organized.

The author reveals the fantastic benefits of the AIDS epidemic and traces the source of the disease to the government?s war on cancer--specifically, the development of immunosuppressive viruses and the documented testing of monkey cancer viruses in human subjects

This collection is a serious attempt to explore the relationship between cultural content and the form AIDS takes in different cultural settings. Written mostly by anthropologists, these essays examine different cultural areas and AIDS: central Africa (Rwanda), New York City, Houston, and London. In addition, articles address topics such as stigmatization of AIDS victims by the press; language and AIDS; class variations in the delivery of social services as experienced by gay and bisexual men in New York City; and homophobia and AIDS. The volume is a valuable addition to the social-anthropological literature on AIDS and should be useful to professionals and for graduate and advanced undergraduate courses dealing with sociocultural aspects of AIDS. Choice<BR><BR>AIDS has become a pandemic with major implications for the future vitality of humankind, according to this powerful new book compiled by the editor of the widely acclaimed The Social Dimensions of AIDS. As a cultural phenomenon the social patterning of AIDS can be explained and its direction largely predicted. Culture and AIDS is written almost entirely by anthropologists and represents the interest of dozens of anthropologists and represents the anthropologists' interest in AIDS related research and activities. Thirteen essays explore the social and cultural context of AIDS related behavior and clarify key domains in AIDS and the social sciences. This volume seeks to broaden its readers' understanding of how AIDS is changing our lives as it redirects human experience.<BR><BR>Culture and AIDS is not intended as an introduction to AIDS. It looks at AIDS as a cultural phenomenon. It includes an introduction and postscript by its editor, Douglas A Feldman. Eleven essays explore: AIDS in Rwanda (Central Africa); A Haitian village handling AIDS; possible cofactors in HIV transmission; social service needs of gay men with AIDS in NYC; psychological factors influencing adjustment among HIV-infected gay men in Houston; social behavior of female prostitutes in London; social effects of AIDS on minority women; AIDS-related stigma in the press; language and AIDS; and other AIDS related areas.