Effectively Fighting HIV

Epidemiologist Elizabeth Pisani discusses what her research reveals about the failure of modern political systems in effectively preventing the spread of HIV. Elizabeth Pisani has spent over a decade focusing her research on the spread of HIV in at-risk populations including junkies and sex workers. Pisani explores the two most common ways of spreading HIV, through shared needles during drug use and unprotected sex, and uses examples to demonstrate the surprising, counter-intuitive measures that could stall the epidemic faster.

Elizabeth Pisani discusses Margaret Thatcher's implementation of the very successful first national needle program that ensured clean needles for addicts and which was replicated in Australia and the Netherlands to great results. Pisani explains that such a precautionary measure is more effective than merely focusing on treatment due to the fact that the government will end up spending more money in the long run if the spread of HIV isn't curbed.