AIDS in Africa: Its Present and Future Impact

The epidemic of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection has been particularly severe in sub-Saharan Africa, where over 6 million persons are currently estimated to be infected. This plague comes at a particularly inopportune time for the continent, as it is recovering from decades of severe social and economic problems. Despite the tragic accounts in the mass media of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) epidemic as it affects households and communities, as well as available epidemiologic data and projections on the magnitude of the epidemic, until now no serious researchers have attempted a rigorous analysis of the true burden on these fragile societies. AIDS in Africa, by Tony Barnett and Piers Blaikie, attempts to partially meet this need by providing an overview of the social and economic consequences of AIDS in parts of Uganda, a country severely affected by the epidemic, and some generalizations about the African continent overall. The book