This book provides a comprehensive overview of the most important themes in German HIV/AIDS prevention and care from the beginning of the epidemic to the present. Multidisciplinary in approach, it highlights the unique contributions of Germany to AIDS work, making available for the first time knowledge which can be applied to other countries as well as to other fields of public health practice. Topics discussed include:

*structural prevention, a concept which unites political and behavioural change

*the synchronistic relationship between AIDS policy and gay politics

*the dominance of love and intimacy over other 'risk factors'

*an approach to prevention among drug users which emphasis human rights and accepts the using behaviour

*a unique partnership between public authorities and the voluntary sector

*services for women working in cross-national border prostitution

*an AIDS survivor syndrome among gay men

*HIV in the context of emotional risks taken by women in relationships.

In addition, specifically German themes are described, including special needs of gay men from the former East Germany, the difficulties of providing adequate outpatient care for people with HIV/AIDS and the history of the AIDS prevention debate in Germany.

The book offers medical, nursing, public health, sociological, psychological and social work perspectives on the German response to AIDS.