AIDS: a social science perspective with special reference to anthropology

AIDS is the most serious pandemic in the history of mankind. Proof exists that the first case of this dreadful disease can be traced back to as early as 1959. It reappeared in 1980. The syndrome affects all facets of man's existence and is especially detrimental to populations in Third World countries. Since medical science can provide no prophylaxis or cure for the syndrome, it is accepted that an interdisciplinary approach is necessary to devise effective prevention programmes. In South Africa this kind of approach is still not evident because medical scientists control the politics of AIDS within a positivistic scientific paradigm. The social sciences can make a considerable contribution towards a better understanding of the pandemic by indicating that there exists a symbiosis between the cultural (including the social) and the psychobiological needs of man. This symbiosis can only be understood within the interpretivist scientific paradigm.