HIV, Health, and Your Community

Book excerpt: A comprehensive guide for health care workers worldwide, especially in areas with few medical resources. Designed as a manual for people confronting the HIV epidemic in their communities, no medical or technical knowledge or prior training in HIV prevention and care of people with AIDS is required. Topics range from the biology of the virus to designing successful prevention programmes and writing grant proposals. Risk factors for infection are discussed and suggestions given of helpful methods for explaining them and assisting people to change their behaviour. Extensive discussions of complex medical treatments not available to 95 percent of the people in the world who have HIV are avoided, focusing instead on medical interventions available in less industrialized settings. Illustrations highlight important topics and increase the accessibility of the text. An appendix aimed at readers with medical training discusses common AIDS-related illnesses and their treatment.