The AIDS epidemic in Sub-Saharan Africa continues to affect all facets of life throughout the subcontinent. Deaths related to AIDS have driven down the life expectancy rate of residents in Zambia, Kenya, and Uganda with far-reaching implications. This book details the current state of the AIDS epidemic in Africa and what is known about the behaviors that contribute to the transmission of the HIV infection. It lays out what research is needed and what is necessary to design more effective prevention programs.

This third part of the AWLAE series on HIV/AIDS and agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa focuses on the epidemic as a challenge to human development in general and rural development in particular. In the face of the impact of the epidemic as described in parts one and two of the series, the agricultural sector can play an important role in mitigating some of its effects. Strategies for agricultural intervention are of particular importance in sub-Saharan Africa, given the fact that most of the countries hardest hit by the epidemic are heavily reliant on agriculture. Different agricultural sector based mitigation strategies are discussed. It is further argued, however, that such interventions need to be complemented by interventions from the health and other sectors, in particular by treatment regimes including access to anti-retroviral drugs. The text is followed by an annotated bibliography.

Current data and trends in morbidity and mortality for the sub-Saharan Region as presented in this new edition reflect the heavy toll that HIV/AIDS has had on health indicators, leading to either a stalling or reversal of the gains made, not just for communicable disorders, but for cancers, as well as mental and neurological disorders.

This second publication in the AWLAE series on HIV/AIDS and agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa discusses the gender dimension of HIV/AIDS impact at household and community level. It does so in using the threefold typology of gender specific constraints, gender intensified disadvantages and gender imposed constraints. Special foci of attention include the implications of gender constraints for food security in rural settings, where women are the main producers of food crops as well as the main caregivers; and how cultural norms determine the different options open to women in contrast to men in mitigating the effects of the epidemic. This last point provides the link to the last publication in the series, which discusses agricultural mitigation strategies in the context of HIV/AIDS as a challenge to human development. The text is followed by an annotated bibliography.This second publication in the AWLAE series on HIV/AIDS and agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa discusses the gender dimension of HIV/AIDS impact at household and community level. It does so in using the threefold typology of gender specific constraints, gender intensified disadvantages and gender imposed constraints. Special foci of attention include the implications of gender constraints for food security in rural settings, where women are the main producers of food crops as well as the main caregivers; and how cultural norms determine the different options open to women in contrast to men in mitigating the effects of the epidemic. This last point provides the link to the last publication in the series, which discusses agricultural mitigation strategies in the context of HIV/AIDS as a challenge to human development. The text is followed by an annotated bibliography.

HIV/AIDS is a catastrophe globally but nowhere more so than in sub-Saharan Africa, which in 2008 accounted for 67 percent of cases worldwide and 91 percent of new infections. The Institute of Medicine recommends that the United States and African nations move toward a strategy of shared responsibility such that these nations are empowered to take ownership of their HIV/AIDS problem and work to solve it.

This book explains how issues of governance lie at the heart of understanding and combating the HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa. It reviews the debates surrounding the root causes of the pandemic and its continuing proliferation and examines the local and global socio-political forces that have contributed to the spread and impact of the disease.