Ethnography, Epidemiology, and Public Policy: Needle-Use Practices and HIV-1 Risk Reduction Among Injecting Drug Users in the Midwest

This chapter is from the book Global AIDS Policy .

An estimated 17 million people are infected with HIV today, and it is estimated that in Africa alone there will be at least 70 million people infected in the next 25 years. This global pandemic has already had a profound impact economically and socially in terms of expensive research, care centers, and immeasurable loss of many of the world's most talented people. Sexual relations, health care of non-infected individuals, family relations, and other social institutions have been significantly marked by this elusive and to date life-threatening phenomenon. Topics range from breastfeeding to condom use, from apathetic governments to immigration policy. Dr. Feldman and his contributors evaluate various policies that have been proposed or adopted on four continents and provide a needed perspective on planetary problems.