Responding to public health challenges at the global and local levels can give rise to an array
of tensions. To assure sustainable public health these tensions need to be meaningfully
balanced. Using empirical evidence and lived experiences relating to HIV from the global south
this book enunciates the many dimensions of national-level responses to HIV AIDS including
conceptual philosophical and methodological perspectives from public health public policy
bioethics and social sciences. Calling out glaring neglects the book makes a bold
recommendation for the destabilization of the naturalness with which national HIV AIDS
responses ignore the socio-political and medico-ethical dimensions of HIV. The case made is
grounded in the philosophy of social public health. Such a critical perspective is not unique
to Ghana's response to HIV AIDS but serves as emblematic voice for similarly situated settings
of the global south. The book is also timely. It is written at a time when public health actors
are repositioning themselves to be competent users of not only pharmaceutic vaccines but also
social vaccines. Topics explored in the chapters include: Public health approaches to HIV and
AIDS Access to life-saving public health goods by persons infected or affected by HIV They are
criminals: AIDS the law harm reduction and the socially excluded Developing socially and
ethically responsive National AIDS policies Balancing the Socio-political and Medico-ethical
Dimensions of HIV: A Social Public Health Approach is compelling reading for a broad spectrum
of readers. The book will appeal to professionals scholars and students in public health
public policy bioethics and social sciences as well as medical anthropologists sociologists
and global health scholars. Public health economists lay politicians and civil society
organizations advocating for health equity will find the book useful as well.
