Does HIV or poverty cause AIDS? Biomedical and epidemiological perspectives.
This paper contrasts biomedical and epidemiological approaches to the diagnosis and treatment of disease, and uses Collingwood's "principle of the relativity of causes" to show how different approaches focus on different causal factors reflecting different interests. By distinguishing between the etiology of a disease and an epidemic, the paper argues that, from an epidemiological perspective, poverty is an important causal factor in the African AIDS epidemic and that emphasizing this should not be considered incompatible with recognizing the causal necessity of HIV for the AIDS disease.
Mosley
Albert
A
Department of Philosophy, Smith College, Northampton, MA 01063, USA. amosley@email.smith.edu
D017088:AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D000349:Africa / Q000453:epidemiology; D003906:Developing Countries / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014943:Global Health; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000592:standards; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D011203:Poverty / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012307:Risk Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors