Int Conf AIDS 1996 Jul 7-12; 11:2 (abstract no. We.13) Decosas J; Montreal, Canada. Fax: 514-288-2067. E-mail: decosas@internauts.ca.
Epidemics of disease are milestones in the history of humanity, nodes in the intricate web of causes and consequences which shape the development of societies. HIV has been with us for long enough to reveal global patterns of distribution which can be linked to currently accepted indicators of social development. Its highest prevalence is found in poor societies, societies in turmoil, among the displaced, the powerless, the marginalised. What are the developmental characteristics that determine the epidemic spread and the level of endemicity of HIV? What has been the role and the impact of the activities known as "international development" in shaping the pandemic? What do we know about the way HIV will influence the process of social development in those societies most affected by the pandemic? Working in the paradigm of critical social and historic analysis, the presentation will explore the basis and the validity of causal theories linking the HIV pandemic to the process of social development. Do developmental failures cause HIV epidemics? Does HIV threaten social development? Or are we chasing our own tails by looking for causal links between covariant indicators of a complex social process?
Keywords: AEGIS, HIV, HIV Infections, Social Change, Disease Outbreaks, HIV-1, Poverty, Prevalence, Animal, ICA11
