The Looming Epidemic : The Impact of HIV and AIDS in India/edited by Peter Godwin. 1998, xv, 190 p., figs., $27.
Contents: Introduction : Another social development crisis?/Peter Godwin. 1. The making of an epidemic: an overview of the issues/Peter Godwin. 2. The epidemic in India: an overview/Lalit M. Nath. 3. Changes in mortality in Mumbai: monitoring mortality to analyse the spread of HIV/Emmanuel Eliot. 4. Planning for the socio-economic impact of the epidemic: the costs of being III/Indrani Gupta. 5. Morbidity and mortality patterns in hospitals: monitoring the impact of the epidemic/S.C. Chawla, I. Koithra and Peter Godwin. 6. HIV infection in the workforce and its perceived impact on industry/Subhash Hira, Swati Gupta and Peter Godwin. 7. The epidemic in rural communities: the relevance of the African experience for India/Tony Barnett. 8. Gender differentials and the special vulnerability of women/Shahid Ashraf and Peter Godwin. Index.
"This book is a collection of analytical frameworks, reports of research findings, and suggestions for further research agendas, that attempts to answer these questions. The chapters present an outline of the coming impact of the rapidly spreading HIV epidemic in India, and suggest some of the tools that will be needed to shape policy and programmes in the coming decade to respond to the epidemic and some of the issues that will need to be addressed.
"The book makes the point that while death rates among young adults are increasing (in some areas dramatically) as a result of HIV infection, few of these deaths are recorded or even recognized as related to HIV. The authors of the various chapters, mostly senior and authoritative figures on the local scene, then outline the situation in India, describing both the steps necessary to prevent the spread of HIV in the country, and some of the critical areas in which basic social welfare infrastructure will be threatened by the increased morbidity and mortality associated with the epidemic. This book also introduces an unconventional element: at the end of certain chapters a short discussion is recorded between the editor and a person living with HIV about that chapter. The intention is to anchor the conceptual and analytical work of the chapters in the real experience of those directly affected by the virus." (jacket)
[Peter Godwin's books include The Economics of HIV and AIDS : The Case of South and South East Asia and The Socioeconomic Implications of the Epidemic.]