Aids north and south: Diffusion patterns of a global epidemic and a research agenda for geographers

Abstract

Apart from the tragic certainty of death which accompanies AIDS everywhere, the means of its transmission, the spatial patterns of its diffusion, and the groups at highest risk of infection vary considerably among world regions. This paper reviews the disease and its transmission, then proposes three models of AIDS diffusion to assess the implications of the epidemic on various regions. AIDS North, of North America and western Europe, is urban based and primarily confined to homosexuals and IV drug abusers. AIDS South, in central Africa and the Caribbean, is spreading from cities into rural regions and affects primarily heterosexuals. The third, an AIDS North/South hybrid, is postulated as a model of diffusion of the disease in other Third World regions. The final section addresses the potential contribution of geographic research to policy-makers in attempting to cope with the diffusion of AIDS and in curbing the epidemic’s advance. © 1988 by the Association of American Geographers.