HIV/AIDS Pandemic: Origins, Science, and Global Impact provides students with a comprehensive introduction to the AIDS epidemic through readings from diverse, interdisciplinary sources. The relevant biology is clearly explained, from the immune system to virology, as well as HIV testing, disease progression, vaccines, therapies, and recent developments in the field. The scientific topics expand further into public health with articles on epidemiology, transmission, and prevention.
The book also engages readers with compelling personal accounts of the AIDS epidemic, invites them to wrestle with economic quandaries, and encourages them to reflect on history. Real-world connections range from the profoundly human, in an article on the role of sexual violence in propagating HIV, to the surreal, in accounts of the insidious phenomenon of HIV denialism.
HIV/AIDS Pandemic can be used in both lower and upper division biology courses, and the material is accessible to non-biology majors as well. In addition, the book is an excellent supplement for courses on public health issues.