Lecture at the LSE re HIV/AIDS in Africa

[englishgirl]

Hello everyone

Ive recently read a very interesting book, ‘The Invisible Cure: Africa, the West and the Fight against AIDS’ by Helen Epstein. It is very informative and I believe some of what she had to say was also relevant to prevention work in the UK - info on concurrency and on who prevention strategies should target.

The author is lecturing at the LSE on Thurs 29th Nov and me and ManchesterUK are planning on going. I thought I'd post some info here in case anyone else would be interested in attending. If you are interested but can't attend, the LSE often streams them afterwards on their website.

http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/LSEPublicLecturesAndEvents/events/2007/20070928t0829z001.htm

A bit about the book in case you're interested in reading it:
The Invisible Cure argues that the very institutions designed to lead the global response to HIV/AIDS may in fact be undermining community responses to the epidemic. For years, scientists and public health officials have misunderstood the HIV epidemic in Africa, and this has led to the development of public health programs that have been less effective than they might have been. While there is no “magic bullet” against AIDS, the most effective measures to fight it may be simpler than many people imagine.

In 1993, Helen Epstein, a scientist working with a biotechnology company searching for an AIDS vaccine, moved to Uganda, where she witnessed first-hand the suffering caused by the HIV virus. The Invisible Cure, dramatic, illuminating and beautifully written, recounts the struggle of international health experts, governments and ordinary Africans to understand the devastating spread of HIV in Africa, and traces how their responses to the crisis have changed in light of new medical developments and political realities. The AIDS epidemic in Africa is uniquely severe. It is partly a consequence of the political, social, and economic upheavals of the past century, which have left millions of Africans adrift in an increasingly globalized world. Their poverty and social dislocation have generated an earthquake in gender relations that has had devastating consequences for the spread of the HIV virus. Epstein argues that there are ways to address this crisis that may be simpler than many people imagine. A deeply affecting story of scientific breakthroughs and false starts, and of the human costs of policymakers' missteps and inaction, The Invisible Cure will change the way we think about AIDS, a disease without precedent.

About the Author:
Helen Epstein has written about public health for many American newspapers and magazines. She has conducted research on reproductive health and AIDS in Africa for various organizations including the Open Society Institute, the Rockefeller Foundation and Human Rights Watch. She obtained a Ph.D. in molecular biology from Cambridge University and an MSc in public health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Also, if anyone is interested in meeting us for tea before the lecture then drop us a PM!

[emeraldize]

Thanks for the post. Some might find this interesting as well. http://www.nybooks.com/authors/10