When Communities Assess their AIDS Epidemics

Results of Rapid Assessment of HIV/AIDS in Eleven U.S. Cities

Benjamin P. Bowser, Ernest Quimby, Merrill Singer

• Publisher: Lexington Books
• Year: 2007
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9780739130018
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Social Science Research & Methodology
• Index: Social Sciences

When Communities Assess their AIDS Epidemics is a detailed ethnographic description of the AIDS epidemic in ten U.S. cities and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Employing a rapid ethnographic assessment methodology, cities from the Atlantic to the Pacific have implemented Project RARE (Rapid Assessment, Response, and Evaluation) efforts. These RARE projects examine the moving edge of the AIDS epidemic through descriptions of high-risk sites and identifications of segments of the populations at greatest risk. Utilizing a series of focus groups and street interviews, local field research teams gain an insider's perspective on HIV risk within social contexts. Dr. Benjamin P. Bowser, Dr. Ernest Quimby, and Dr. Merrill Singer have compiled these critical studies that analyze current conditions, challenges, and recommendations encountered by RARE. When Communities Assess their AIDS Epidemics is a powerful and engaging text that will appeal to those interested in public health and anthropology.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Preface
• Introduction
• 1 Exploring the Boundaries of the AIDS Epidemic in the U.S.
• 2 Rapid Assessment: A Method for Community-Based Research
• 3 Responding to the AIDS Crisis in Newark, New Jersey
• 4 AIDS Health Emergency in Chicago
• 5 Confined Youth Trying to Make it Real, Despite the Odds: RARE in Baltimore
• 6 AIDS in Philadelphia: Emerging from the Shadow of Crack
• 7 AIDS in the Shadow of Power: Washington, D.C.
• 8 Rapid Assessment in Oakland: HIV, Race, Class, and Bureaucracy
• 9 The AIDS Epidemic in Palm Beach County, Florida
• 10 The Risks of Paradise: Project RARE and the Fight against AIDS in the U.S. Virgin Islands
• 11 The RARE Experience in Miami
• 12 Twilight's Last Gleaning: Rapid Assessment of Late Night HIV Risk in Hartford, CT
• 13 RARE Research in Preventing HIV among Men Who Have Sex with Men in Pima County, Arizona
• 14 Conclusion: Assessing Primary, Secondary, and Future Benefits of Project RARE
• Index
• About the Contributors