Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: AIDS

  • Vampires and blood trafficking: The International Red Cross campaign against third-world plasma collection in the 1970s

    William SchneiderIndianapolis, Indiana, United States One of the cornerstones of the WHO Blood Safety program is the voluntary donation of blood. According to the WHO Fact Sheet No. 279 (June 2015), all Member States are urged “to develop national blood systems based on voluntary unpaid donation.” The reason is, An adequate and reliable supply of…

  • Preparing for a zombie apocalypse

    Larry KerrCarlisle, Pennsylvania, United States What can we learn from a Zombie Apocalypse? The first thing to learn? It could happen. Anyone who has been on this earth for a length of time knows that when a person says something cannot possibly happen, it almost certainly will. Even more worrisome is the disclaimer that if…

  • TB-AIDS diary

    Linda Troeller New York, New York, United States   The TB-AIDS Diary was created in 1987 to address issues of stigma, comparing the response to patients with tuberculosis in the 1930s with the reaction to patients with AIDS in the 1980s. Tuberculosis was used as a metaphor for the stigma surrounding contagious diseases and treated…

  • Ending one’s life on the stage

    Angela Belli New York City, New York, United States   Writers and physicians often share the same sensibilities and skills required to describe the disease process and its wider effects. But while the literary artist, unlike the physician, relies on his imagination to realize the experience of his fictional characters, he can also engage the…

  • Kindred paradigms: community arts and health advocacy in HIV/AIDS activism

    Niyi AwofesoAnu RammohanAustralia, Perth Community arts involve an understanding of communities and how art can function as an agent of social change. Community artists employ a broad range of genres and disciplines to reach a wide audience. Defined broadly as the work of communities of people committed to improving their individual and collective circumstances through…

  • River, 2005 – Installation by Gerda Meyer Bernstein

    Gerda Meyer BernsteinChicago, Illinois, United States Artist Statement River is a 32 ft. x 20 in. x 20 in. installation. It is made up of a wooden box with 10,000 vials filled with a red substance simulating blood. The vials overflow at one end, spilling all over the floor like the uncontrollability of the AIDS epidemic.…