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From the Publisher:
In January 2000, the United Nations Security
Council mobilized for the first time ever against an illness: It declared
the AIDS epidemic that is galloping through Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean
a global catastrophe. Even the US ambassador to the United Nations, Richard
Holbrooke, has acknowledged it as, 'the greatest single threat to humanity.'
The crisis is worst in sub-Saharan Africa, and especially South Africa,
which has one of the fastest-growing epidemics in the world: One out of four
adults is HIV positive, as are 29% of all pregnant women.
Reporting from the frontlines of the daily battle with AIDS consuming
hospitals and households across the country, author and journalist Zia
Jaffrey stresses that AIDS in Africa is not simply a health issue but an
amalgam of economic, political, and social concerns. Taking on Mbeki's
administration, first-world governments, the large multinational
pharmaceutical companies, and the inimical legacy of apartheid on the
country's social cohesion, Jaffrey argues forcefully that not allowing
developing nations access to cheap generic drugs nor drastically cutting
prices of life-prolonging and AIDS-fighting drugs is tantamount to genocide.
In disturbing personal narratives from men and women in South Africa, she
reveals how AIDS has recently become the new apartheid.
"A searing report from South Africa on the continuing tragedy of AIDS in
that region. Zia Jaffrey traveled the country and has produced a testimony
that can only leave us shaken and determined to fight on." - Vogue
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Zia Jaffrey was born and lives in New
York and spent part of her childhood in Delhi, India. She has written
numerous features and book reviews, and has been published in The New
York Times, The Nation, The Village Voice, Elle, and Vogue, among
other publications. She is the author of The Invisibles: A Tale of the
Eunuchs of India. |
