'The global fight to stop the spread of HIV is at a tragic impasse. As UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan put it, 'the virus is always ahead of us'. Tim Frasca's extremely important book tells us why. It is written lucidly, with compassion, and hits you like a bucket of cold water, shaking you out of your stupor.' - Laurie Garrett, Senior Fellow for Global Health, Council on Foreign Relations, Pulitzer Prize-winning and bestselling writer, and author of Betrayal of Trust: The Collapse of Global Public Health
'AIDS in Latin America by Tim Frasca is a long awaited book for health policy makers, not only in that part of the world but everywhere. Frasca's insightful investigation of the impact of AIDS in Latin America is an important contribution to understanding and addressing future public health policies, treatment and prevention of this disease.' - Isabel Letelier, Human Rights Activist, Vice President of CIPRESS Foundation, Chile
'Tim Frasca's book on the history of AIDS in Latin America is a fascinating and critical journey exploring AIDS-related social and political response - both positive and negative - on the part of government and civil society on this continent. One gets a clear and moving picture of what AIDS can do to people and what people can do in response.' - Frans Mom, Senior Policy Officer, Human Institute for Cooperation with Developing Countries (Hivos), The Netherlands
'In an age of knee-jerk, pre-packaged analysis from all sides of the political spectrum, it is refreshing to read such a nuanced, challenging account that lets people speak for themselves but doesn't let them off the hook.' - Marc Cooper, The Nation
'Tim Frasca, both a sharp-eared reporter and a veteran of the front-line fight against AIDS in Latin America, has produced a riveting, politically sophisticated, and heartbreakingly human account of why that fight is being lost. This country-by-country account of what works, and what doesn't - filtered though Frasca's smart compassion and his visceral sympathy for the huge underclass - makes AIDS in Latin America original and important, with implications for AIDS work everywhere. We can all learn from this book.' - Doug Ireland, LA Weekly
With moving human narratives and revealing interviews of AIDS victims and fellow activists and health-care workers, Frasca traces the responses to the AIDS epidemic in various Latin American and Caribbean countries. Although his book is short on statistics or formal analysis, Frasca finds remarkable progress in many places, and he credits Argentina, Brazil, and Chile for providing nearly universal access to HIV medication. At the same time, Frasca worries that past successes and the focus on access to life-prolonging drugs, however hopeful, are detracting from efforts at prevention and at tackling the broader social issues of sexual identity, reproductive health services, and public education. But this book is more than epidemiology: the recorded responses to AIDS are fascinating reflections of the widely diverse social mores and political attitudes across Latin American countries. For example, working relations between government agencies and independent civil-society organizations appear marvelously cooperative in Brazil, constructive but constrained in Chile, improving in Mexico, and often hostile in Guatemala. Although not Frasca's central focus, international donors generally draw approval for providing essential funds, promoting alliances among nongovernmental organizations, and disseminating information on best practices.
