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This book focuses on issues relevant to women, motherhood and living with HIV/AIDS. Each chapter offers information on real life situations - poor access to health services, internalized stigma, social ostracism and more - collected from around the world.

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There are about 34 million people worldwide living with HIV/AIDS. Half are women. There has been a dramatic global increase in the rates of women living with HIV/AIDS. Among young women, especially in developing countries, infection rates are rapidly increasing. Many of these women are also mothers with young infants. When a woman is labeled as having HIV, she is treated with suspicion and her morality is being questioned. Previous research has suggested that women living with HIV/AIDS can be affected by delay in diagnosis, inferior access to health care services, internalized stigma and a poor utilization of health services. This makes it extremely difficult for women to take care of their own health needs. Women are also reluctant to disclose their HIV-positive status as they fear this may result in physical feelings of shame, social ostracism, violence, or expulsion from home. Women living with HIV/AIDS who are also mothers carry a particularly heavy burden of being HIV-infected. This unique book attempts to put together results from empirical research and focuses on issues relevant to women, motherhood and living with HIV/AIDS which have occurred to individual women in different parts of the globe. The book comprises chapters written by researchers who carry out their projects in different parts of the world, and each chapter contains empirical information based on real life situations. This can be used as evidence for health care providers to implement socially and culturally appropriate services to assist individuals and groups who are living with HIV/AIDS in many societies. The book is of interest to scholars and students in the domains of anthropology, sociology, social work, nursing, public health & medicine and health professionals who have a specific interest in issues concerning women who are mothers and living with HIV/AIDS from cross-cultural perspective.

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From the book reviews:
"This is a book that any scholar interested in HIV and women studies should add to his or her personal library. It presents a state-of-the-art outline of recent studies-mainly through different types of qualitative methods-supplemented with a plethora of appropriate references. ... this book is a comprehensive source to acquire a cross-cultural perspective on HIV and women studies, providing guidance for both health professionals and policy makers." (Ines Aristegui, Applied Research Quality Life, Vol. 9, 2014)

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