The Politics of Emerging and Resurgent Infectious Diseases

Description

The ancient scourge of infectious diseases will accompany humanity into the twenty-first century - not as a fading shadow from the past, but as a looming spectre. Despite the advances of scientific research and medicine, familar diseases such as tuberculosis and malaria are worsening, while HIV/AIDS is but one of a number of new and deadly diseases which threaten communities throughout the world. Together with the resurgence of diseases once thought to have been 'conquered', the human costs and social impications have begun to engage a diverse range of practitioners and scholars. The premise behind this collection of distinguished essays is that the causal relations, impacts and consequences of this disturbing trend are as much political as medical or scientific. In the face of globalizing trends which make 'health for all' a necessary aspiration rather than a slogan, this examination of the importance of political acts and omissions in preventing and dealing with infectious disease, is both timely and important.