Aids epidemic in Puerto Rico - ideas for geography teaching

Abstract

The diffusion of the infection with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) can be studied and understood as a spatial process. Modelling and forecasting the geographical distribution of an epidemic is a main contribution of the discipline of geography for diseases intervention purposes. A particular example is presented for Puerto Rico. In a classroom setting, the study of the diffusion of health-related phenomena offers the opportunity to introduce students to the basic concepts of spatial diffusion and to acquire familiarity with the subdiscipline of medical geography.

As with all human diseases, the dimensions of the AIDS epidemic go beyond that which can be detected with medical instruments. Diseases have social, economic and political variables associated with them. The AIDS epidemic can be used to study a range of issues such as power and gender relations, problems of the less developed countries, or world population growth. Thus, the complex and many-faceted diffusion process of HIV offers a contemporary subject for the study of several geographical issues not only on the upper secondary or high school level but also as introductory courses of human geography on college level.