This book critically examines the many complex entanglements between AIDS activism and HIV
science. It takes readers on a medical anthropological expedition across time and space that
highlights the stakes from the perspective of those most affected by the epidemic. Author
Robert Lorway reveals how early in the HIV epidemic amid inadequate government leadership
communities of people living with and directly affected by HIV and AIDS rose to become a vital
force at the forefront of prevention responses. Yet now more than three decades later HIV
prevention and treatment is increasingly being placed under the jurisdiction of clinical
epidemiological and management scientific expertise. In this kind of context where does
activism figure into the possibility of more democratized collaborations between affected
communities scientists and policy makers? Coverage draws upon the findings from an array of
community research projects conducted in Canada India and Kenya over a 22-year period. It
weaves together rich original data sources that range from in-depth qualitative interviews
field notes and primary and secondary archival document retrievals in these three regions.
Offering a rich diversity in perspectives this book tackles the broader themes related to
global health policy science and transnational activism at the same time as it highlights the
experiences and local arenas where debates about activism and science play out. In the end
Lorway questions the growing expectation for affected communities themselves to produce sound
evidence to legitimize their advocacy projects. He calls for the planners and implementers of
biomedically oriented HIV research and interventions to more meaningfully engage with
communities in ways that de-monopolize decision making as a matter of ethics and improved
scientific practice.
