Blacks and AIDS: Causes and Origins

9780803943469

0803943466

It is now known that anybody can contract AIDS and that it is found in almost every country and demographic group. However the incidence and prevalence of AIDS is rather unevenly distributed. Black people are disproportionatly affected: they have the hightest rates; they progress more quickly from HIV infection to acquisition of AIDS; and they die more quickly from the disease. This is the first book to tackle the relationship of black people to AIDS. The main issue addressed is whether the disproportionately high rates of AIDS in black people has a genetic basis. The issue is discussed in terms of epidemiologic, basic science, and clinical research data in a comprehensive manner. The major topics discussed are the overall health status of black people, history and epidemiology of AIDS, transmission and pathogenesis, AIDS in Africa, genetic versus environmental basis of AIDS and control measures. Samuel Duh's thesis is that the general health status of an individual helps determine whether or not the immunity-breakdown capabilities of the HIV virus will succeed. In poorer populations, like a large portion of the American black community, poor health due to poverty, nutritional deprivation and limited access to health care accounts for the disproportionately high occurrence of AIDS cases. Thus the book also deals with psychosocial, socioeconomic and cultural bases of the health status of black people - relating to long-standing discrimination and prejudice. Duh's work is a concise, readable summary of the existing general research on AIDS, both medical and social scientific, as well as its specific impact on the black community. His policy recommendations to ameliorate the epidemic in the black community are modest and achievable, focusing on means of improving health status and health education in the community.