December 2015
AIDS Between Science and Politics, Peter Piot
Peter Piot, founding executive director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), recounts his experience as a clinician, scientist, and activist fighting the disease from its earliest manifestation to today.
Piot describes how the epidemic altered global attitudes toward sexuality, the character of the doctor-patient relationship, the influence of civil society in international relations, and traditional partisan divides. AIDS thrust health into national and international politics where, he argues, it rightly belongs.
The global reaction to AIDS over the past decade is the positive result of this partnership, showing what can be achieved when science, politics, and policy converge on the ground.
Yet it remains a fragile achievement, and Piot warns against complacency and the consequences of reduced investments. He refuses to accept a world in which high levels of HIV infection are the norm. Instead, he explains how to continue to reduce the incidence of the disease to minute levels through both prevention and treatment, until a vaccine is discovered.
Read more about Aids / HIV:
Successes and setbacks in the fight against Aids
Marques, Maria Cristina da Costa. Contradições e assimetrias na construção do conhecimento em Aids/HIV. Hist. cienc. saude-Manguinhos, Ago 2005, vol.12, no.2, p.575-579. ISSN 0104-5970
Camargo Jr., Kenneth R. de. Aids e a Aids das ciências. Hist. cienc. saude-Manguinhos, Out 1994, vol.1, no.1, p.35-60. ISSN 0104-5970
