Saturday Is for Funerals - Hardcover

Dow, Unity; Essex, Max

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0674050770 ISBN 13: 9780674050778

Publisher: Harvard University Press, 2010

Synopsis

In the year 2000 the World Health Organization estimated that 85 percent of fifteen-year-olds in Botswana would eventually die of AIDS. In Saturday Is for Funerals we learn why that won’t happen.

Unity Dow and Max Essex tell the true story of lives ravaged by AIDS―of orphans, bereaved parents, and widows; of families who devote most Saturdays to the burial of relatives and friends. We witness the actions of community leaders, medical professionals, research scientists, and educators of all types to see how an unprecedented epidemic of death and destruction is being stopped in its tracks.

This book describes how a country responded in a time of crisis. In the true-life stories of loss and quiet heroism, activism and scientific initiatives, we learn of new techniques that dramatically reduce rates of transmission from mother to child, new therapies that can save lives of many infected with AIDS, and intricate knowledge about the spread of HIV, as well as issues of confidentiality, distributive justice, and human rights. The experiences of Botswana offer practical lessons along with the critical element of hope.

About this title

About the Authors

Unity Dow is a practicing lawyer in Botswana and the author of four novels. She was formerly a judge with both the Botswana High Court and The Interim Constitutional Court of Kenya.

Max Essex is Mary Woodard Lasker Professor of Health Sciences at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health. He has been involved in AIDS research from the earliest days of the U.S. epidemic in 1982.

Reviews

The HIV/AIDS epidemic in Botswana is explored with sensitivity and scientific rigor in this heartening book from Dow, a Botswana High Court judge and novelist, and Essex, a Harvard professor and medical researcher specializing in HIV/AIDS. The authors offer an empathetic account of everyday life in a country where the disease infects one of every four adults—the constant funerals, the heroism of community workers and activists—and miniature narratives from the lives of the suffering and surviving: a teenager raising his siblings after being orphaned, a newlywed's discovering that her new husband is HIV-positive. In broad strokes, the authors cover the transmission and diagnosis of the disease, how drugs are researched and introduced on the market, and the humble and elaborate initiatives that have been so successful in Botswana: circumcision as well as HAART (Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Therapy). Although occasionally repetitive, this richly informative book dispels much of the mystery still surrounding HIV/AIDS, revealing how life goes on for those infected. Readers overwhelmed by (and even numbed to) the images of desolation that accompany coverage of the epidemic will find a realistic but optimistic assessment of a society successfully tackling the problem and a model for other afflicted nations. (May)
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In 2000, the World Health Organization predicted that 85 percent of 15-year-olds in Botswana would eventually die of AIDS. Life expectancies were projected to be shortened by 44 years. But in 2006, Botswana began receiving antiretroviral drugs, and its health prospects turned around dramatically. Dow brings a legal and human-rights perspective and Essex brings a medical-research perspective to chronicling the extent of the devastation of HIV/AIDS and the lessons learned from treating the disease and beating back the dire predictions. At one point, deaths were so prevalent that every Saturday was set aside for funerals. The traditional yearlong mourning was cut short, and family members had to help overwhelmed hospital staff. Dow recalls his mother’s recitation of the long list of friends, relatives, and neighbors who died, the stigma and shame that has led to divorce in a nation that takes marriage very seriously. Essex details the course of the disease, the public health issues, and the private suffering of AIDS patients. Together, they present a compelling look at the toll of AIDS in Africa and some hopeful developments. --Vanessa Bush

Edition details

• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0674050770
• ISBN 13: 9780674050778
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 240