HCP 157 AIDS As Case Study

The HIV/AIDS epidemic stands as one of the chief challenges facing countries in the new millennium.  In the United States, where health professionals have had over twenty years to tackle the epidemic and where public health workers have created several successful programs to slow it, HIV nonetheless continues to spread. Students in this course will study the history of HIV in America, tracing the paths the epidemic has taken over the past quarter century.  Beginning with the origins and epidemiology of HIV, students will learn to situate the disease in the context of other historical epidemics. Together, students will study a range of issues that have surrounded the AIDS epidemic and challenged effective implementation of public health initiatives, including race, risk, gender, economics, public policy, medical access, civil liberties, and public morality.