In Europe today, HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care are needed more than ever. HIV incidence steady in western and central Europe, and dramatically increasing in eastern Europe remains a major challenge to public health in the 21st century. With more than two million people living with HIV/AIDS in the WHO European Region, no country has been spared. This book tells the story of HIV/AIDS in Europe from a broad variety of perspectives: biomedical, social, cultural, economic and political. The authors are leading experts from across the Region and include both the infected and the affected, be they doctors or former drug users, United Nations employees or gay men, public health researchers or community activists. They describe how, from the first documented cases in 1981 to the present era of antiretroviral management, controlling the human immunodeficiency virus in Europe has proven elusive. Yet while antiretroviral therapy lets many HIV-positive Europeans lead normal lives, the vast majority of the Region s infected residents continue to face the disease unarmed. This volume not only analyses the past and surveys the present, but suggests how to move towards two fundamental goals: providing universal access to treatment and halting the spread of HIV/AIDS. |