Public Health Approaches to HIV and AIDS

Beginning from the early days of AIDS, the chapter discusses the conceptualization of HIV (including AIDS) as a public health emergency of international concern. The chapter describes the global response to HIV – examining the application of cardinal public health principles to curbing AIDS in different contexts. The achievements of traditional public health practice measures (including surveillance, testing, the counting and reporting AIDS cases, and deaths) as well as relatively recent innovations (including combination prevention measures, treatment as prevention) are outlined. Also discussed are the prospects and challenges of efforts aimed at eliminating HIV. The chapter argues that public health response to HIV will not chalk durable success without addressing old challenges such as AIDS denialism, misinformation, and conspiracy theories, but also new and disinformation, and AIDS infodemia.