A wonderful informative and actually entertaining book on a subject that you would imagine to be dry and depressing. Elizabeth has a great voice and allows personality and humanity to take hold of the subject matter rather than an bury the reader with mind numbing facts.
Perhaps if the subject matter was dealt with in our communities, schools and even homes with the same informative yet humanizing approach progress would be more than a goal.
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An interesting book by AIDS activist Elizabeth Pisani (although she disavows the term "activist," preferring "nerd"). Part memoir, part analysis of contemporary AIDS programs. I preferred the analysis to the memoir. A little repetitive in the second half. ( )

An interesting book by AIDS activist Elizabeth Pisani (although she disavows the term "activist," preferring "nerd"). Part memoir, part analysis of contemporary AIDS programs. I preferred the analysis to the memoir. A little repetitive in the second half. ( )

Epidemiologist Elizabeth Pisani's book on 'sex, drugs and HIV' is both really informative and powerfully written, in terms simple enough for readers who don't have a background in medicine or number crunching, like myself. She has really opened my eyes on the subject, from how HIV is transmitted to how badly those afflicted are still being treated worldwide, because 'governments 'don't like spending money on sex workers, gay men or drug addicts' - those most often infected with the disease.

Like Caitlin Doughty in her book on death and the funeral industry, Pisani is forthright and refreshingly open, but also engaging and quite funny, considering the topic. She challenges what we think they know of HIV/AIDS - 'in rich countries, AIDS was a disease of gays and junkies, of prostitutes and their clients' and 'If you talk about AIDS these days, most people think of Africa' - while bringing readers up to date (or relatively so - 2009) with how many people are infected in which African, Asian and South American countries, and the amount of money and practical care and treatment (or lack thereof) they are receiving. She also talks about prevention vs treatment, and the puritanical attitude of the US during the Bush administration - 'Anyone taking money from the US government to do AIDS work has to sign a statement saying that they oppose the practice of prostitution'.

Neither does Pisani shy away from discussing 'sex and drugs', from prostitution and the waria (transgender people) of Indonesia to shooting drugs in prisons and needle exchanges (another taboo concept in the US). I have to admit that this book really highlighted my ignorance, about issues I didn't even know I should know about! The treatment of HIV with antiretroviral drugs has diminished the threat of AIDS in the Western world to the point where men and women are 'bored of being "good" and starting to take risks again - not using condoms, which are not always promoted by religious communities (moral purity and denial ranking higher than staying healthy and alive), and sharing needles.

An absolutely fascinating book, which I only wish was more up to date - how do AIDS infection rates and research stand today? ( )

Pisani has been working in AIDS research pretty much since its inception, at all the big organizations: UNAIDS, WHO, CDC, World Bank, Ministries of Health in China, Indonesia, East Timor, and the Philippines. She tells the story of the evolution of AIDS programs, which started out as shamefully poorly funded and are now overwhelmed with badly managed donor money. Personal and political ideologies have blocked the most effective programs, channeled money toward populations that don't need it, used resources in the most inefficient ways possible (for example, when she wrote this book most US aid was tied up so that a program in Asia would have to buy condoms made in the US and ship them across the world, as opposed to just buying the much cheaper condoms made locally. Same problem but on a grander scale with drugs, which pharma companies made a mint off of, even after Brazil and India rebelled against their patents and started making their own generics)...Pisani has a light, cheeky tone for most of this book, but hints of righteous anger filter through, mostly in the form of bitingly sarcastic footnotes. God, I love sarcastic footnotes.

Definitely worth a read if one is interested in donor aid, AIDS, or the research of infectious diseases. ( )