Dr. Richard Guerrant, infectious disease specialist and director of the U.Va. Center for Global Health.
Dr. Guerrant has been treating patients and conducting infectious disease research for more than 30 years in several countries. He is an outspoken advocate for improving health worldwide, particularly for the poor in developing nations. He is an excellent source for information about infectious diseases, including AIDS, and the issues influencing global health policy. His international health programs have brought more than 65 physicians and researchers from around the world to study in the United States. All of them have returned to their home countries to practice medicine, conduct research and influence policy. Guerrant also has sent more than 150 students from a variety of disciplines to practice medicine and conduct research in South America, Asia and Africa.
Aaron Miracle is a 4th-year biochemistry major at U.Va. with an interest in HIV virology and global health.
Miracle spent three months this past summer in Beijing and Hefei, China working with an HIV support group studying the socio-cultural reasons for the lack of voluntary counseling and testing for HIV. As a U.Va. Center for Global Health Scholar he wanted to "get introduced to the clinical side of medicine and begin to understand how sociology and culture affect disease." Miracle is fluent in Chinese, having grown up in Taipei (his father works for the Foreign Service and the family now lives in McLean, Va.). Here is what he found:
*getting tested is stigmatized due to the implied risk behaviors such as drug use, prostitution, and multiple sexual partners;
*people don't necessarily trust health care providers to maintain confidentiality or protect patient rights;
*they may not want to get counseled as they are tested because they don't want to talk to strangers about personal issues - and if they have to get counseled, they wouldn't necessarily tell the truth;
*not getting tested means they don't have to know whether or not they are HIV + (most people living with HIV/AIDS in China have never been tested), and in rural areas there is no guarantee that treatment would be available, so some people think there is no reason to know their status.
Miracle says: "I'm interested in this because I'm going into medicine (probably infectious disease and HIV) and HIV needs to be addressed from a preventative perspective as well as a scientific one - at least until a cure/vaccine comes around. Health education and advocacy are vital, and to understand them, you need to understand the anthropology of disease."
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