HIV and AIDS is not the first global epidemic and it certainly won’t be the last; it is a disease that is changing human history. HIV and AIDS shows up global inequalities. Its presence and impacts are felt most profoundly in poor countries and communities.”

This book looks at the origins of HIV and AIDS, its transmission and characteristics, its spread and context in Africa, and the socio-economic impact on households and communities, including agriculture and rural livelihoods.

Summary case studies are presented in three categories: High social cohesion, low wealth (the Philippines and India); Low social cohesion, low wealth (the Ukraine and Uganda); Low social cohesion, high wealth (Botswana and South Africa). Other illustrative cases are drawn from United Republic of Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo and elsewhere. There is substantial information on all mainland SADC member states.

Achapter on “Responses” looks at what works, and argues for the importance of changing the risk environment as part of prevention. Focus on the individual can only be “part of the strategy” as many of the basic individual behavioural interventions have been tried in various parts of the world, yet in most settings, the HIV prevalence has risen. Other interventions are examined.

The book is well-researched and written, and while tracing the global context, is rooted in Africa, drawing most of its examples from southern and eastern Africa, and containing relevant data and analysis. It is the most comprehensive book yet available on this subject.

A significant shortcoming, however, is the dearth of information on the impact of the disease on women, and gender inequalities. The sole index entry on the latter is “Gender “inequality, China and India” and the entry on the page itself is just two words: gender inequality. Women are mentioned four times in the entire book.

Professor Alan Whiteside spent 15 years with the University of Natal’s Economic Research Unit before establishing the Health Economics and HIV and AIDS Research Division in 1998, of which he is currently Director. His main research interest is the economic and development impact of HIV and AIDS; and he founded and edits the newsletter AIDS Analysis Africa. Tony Barnett is Professor of Development Studies at the University of East Anglia and has travelled widely studying the impact of the AIDS pandemic in Africa, Asia and other parts of the world.

The Association François-Xavier Bagnoud (FXB) was founded in 1989 to promote the concept of health and human rights. FXB is an evolving movement composed of a foundation, a Swiss-based international NGO and community organisations in a number of developing countries; and defines itself as a “social entrepreneur” that hopes to move traditional aid to more effective models through example and advocacy. Avoiding traditional methods of intervention, FXB supported the work of the late Dr Jonathan Mann, first director of the FXB Centre for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University, which was the first major educational institution to focus on developing the paradigm that where people are poor and oppressed, pandemics such as AIDS thrive and poverty abounds.

AIDS in the Twenty-First Century – Disease and Globalisation by Tony Barnett and Alan Whiteside, with The Association François-Xavier Bagnoud, published by Palgrave-Macmillan, 2002