"HIV, Health and Your Community: A guide for action" New HIV book by Granich and Mermin

HIV, Health and Your Community:
A Guide for Action

Reuben Granich, MD, MPH and Jonathan Mermin, MD, MPH

Illustrations by Mona Sfeir

This book is a comprehensive, easy-to-understand guide for health workers throughout the world, notably in areas with few medical resources. It could be equally useful in a rural village in southern Africa, a major city in Thailand, or a Peace Corps worker's backpack. Designed as a manual for people confronting the HIV epidemic in their communities, it has been written to be easily accessible to those without medical or technical knowledge and without prior training in the prevention of HIV and the care of those with AIDS. Topics range from the biology of the virus to designing prevention programs, from the epidemiology of the disease to writing grant proposals.

The authors discuss explicitly the risk factors for infection and suggest helpful methods for explaining them and assisting people to change their behavior. They avoid extensive discussions of medical treatments not available to the vast majority of the people in the world who have HIV, focusing instead on public health interventions that are possible in less industrialized settings. However, an appendix aimed at readers with medical training discusses common HIV-related illnesses and their treatment.

The authors use contemporary examples, most drawn from actual experience, to emphasize the growing prevalence of HIV and to reflect successful prevention efforts by health workers around the world. Illustrations are used throughout the book to highlight important topics and to increase the accessibility of the text.

This book is dedicated to the many people throughout the world who face the challenge of working and living with HIV every day

The authors' proceeds from this book will be donated to community-based AIDS organizations.

"This book is clear, concise, and accessible for the target audience. Its format and style is appealing, and I greatly commend it for making a difficult subject so easily digestible."

— Bunmi Makinwa, Communications Adviser, UNAIDS