HIV, which can lead to AIDS, continues to present a pandemic situation wherever humans live. It differentially affects marginalized communities and tends to have an associated social stigma. It has hurt people in Africa particularly hard, and Whiteside, a professor in South Africa and a global leader in AIDS health discussions, is well-poised to witness the global effects. In this short and well-written work, he extracts the biomedical, social, political, and economic implications of this disease.

HIV likely first entered a human through infected ape meat in the early part of the twentieth century. AIDS first came to the attention of the global community, particularly the West, in the early 1980s. Its unrelenting and unmitigated spread struck much fear. In the mid-1980s, the cause, a virus, was isolated. Effective medications made an appearance in the 1990s. Vaccination research efforts have failed to produce an effective vaccine. (Such efforts continue.) The distribution of medications to needful communities – especially in poor Africa – has become a prime geopolitical issue.

This basic story presents a lot of topics to unpack, and Whiteside does so from the perspective of Africa (central to this disease’s story, ranging from origin to prime impact). My main criticism of this work, which summarizes a lot of helpful information, is that it was written in 2008 and thus is dated. Even during a coronavirus pandemic (as is the case at the time of this writing), HIV/AIDS continues to pose peculiar and complex challenges, and work continues globally to address its difficulties. I wonder what beneficial information this work would present were it updated for the last 13 years.

The HIV/AIDS pandemic has exposed many truths about the global healthcare system. It has exposed inequities in the way that information is collected and that care and information are disbursed. It has shown the limits of capitalist models of healthcare innovations, where rich companies develop for rich patients while this disease disproportionately affects poor and marginalized patients, especially in poor countries. Stigma about contracting the disease is amplified by intrigue about sexual practices. Oversimplified “solutions,” such as sexual abstinence, often prevail in popular discussions. In less than 150 pages, Whitehead elaborates and expounds on all these topics, with one eye on the past and another on the future.

As is common in Oxford University Press’s “Very Short Introduction” series, this work is most suited for social leaders – whether from government, healthcare, or private business – who need a quick tutorial for basic issues. It also has references for further reading in case of a need for deeper analysis. Concise and tightly edited language use amplifies the effect of the words. Again, my only real criticism is that this work is now dated. One can only hope that continued global labor about this issue will lead to eventual rewards.

Note: A second edition of this work was published in 2017. ( )

I found this book really interesting - having forgotten pretty much everything I learned about HIV in school, this book does a good job of covering the social causes and political impacts of the disease as well as its biology. Definitely recommended as a quick way to get up to speed on HIV/AIDS (although I believe it was published in 2006, so it isn't totally current; it gives you some good leads on where to get more information, however). ( )