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Issue Description
AIDS, the disease caused by the HIV virus, has been described as a pandemic, causing around 3 million deaths worldwide every year. Positive HIV diagnoses are also rising in the UK. What causes HIV and how can we protect ourselves against it? How do those living with the illness cope with issues such as medical treatment, stigma and discrimination? What can be done to combat AIDS in the developing world? These are some of the questions posed by The AIDS Crisis.
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Key Facts
- Worldwide figures estimate that over 40 million people are living with HIV and around three million people die each year from AIDS-related illnesses. (page 1)
- There is no cure for HIV infection, but treatment with anti-HIV medicines dramatically slows the progress of the disease and has significantly reduced the number of deaths caused by AIDS-related illnesses. (page 2)
- Worldwide, over 15 million children under the age of 18 have lost one or both parents to AIDS – a number that is expected to reach 20 million by 2010. (page 6)
- HIV-infected patients in high income countries are living some 13 years longer thanks to improvements in combination antiretroviral therapy (cART), according to new research. (page 8)
- More people have been infected with HIV/AIDS by heterosexual sex than by any other method of transmission. (page 11)
- New research indicates that one in seven young people interviewed in Britain would not be willing to remain friends with someone if they had HIV and only 32% are worried about getting HIV. (page 18)
- In 2007, over 90 per cent of the British public did not fully understand the ways that HIV is transmitted, with Scotland and London reportedly being the least knowledgeable regions. (page 23)
- HIV can only be transmitted in a few ways: through sex, blood and mother-to-child transmission. (page 26)
- Developing countries account for 95% of new HIV infections. (page 36)
- AIDS continues to be the leading cause of death in Africa, which is home to 67% of all people living with HIV. In Africa, 60% of people living with HIV in the region are women and three out of four young people living with HIV are female. (page 39)
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Table of Contents
Chapter One: The AIDS Epidemic
HIV/AIDS, HIV/AIDS estimates are revised downwards, Gender inequalities and HIV, Protect the children, Life expectancy of HIV patients increases, Gay men with HIV have near-normal death rates, HIV in developing countries, What do you know about HIV/AIDS?, Criminal transmission of HIV, Diseased theories.
Chapter Two: HIV/AIDS in the UK
Record UK HIV diagnoses, AIDS epidemic update, Stigmatising HIV and AIDS, Step into the future, Getting tested for HIV, Living with HIV, HIV and gay men.
Chapter Three: Fighting HIV and AIDS
HIV prevention in the UK, Condom use, Stop HIV: beyond ABC, 3 million now receiving life-saving HIV drugs, Fast facts about HIV treatment, Hope: an overlooked tool in the HIV/AIDS battle, Is it time to give up the search for an AIDS vaccine?, Inching closer, A cure for AIDS, Turning back the epidemic.
Key Facts
Glossary
Index
Additional Resources
Acknowledgements
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The Study Guide for: The AIDS Crisis - Volume 164
Each book in the Issues series has a study guide. These four-page guides provide a variety of discussion points and other activities to suit a wide range of ability levels and interests.
Publisher: Independence Educational Publishers
Price: £1.95
ISBN: 978 1 86168 490 5
