ABSTRACT

As the HIV/AIDS epidemic has progressed, over time and geographical distance, we have become aware of two important points. First, stemming the spread of HIV depends essentially on motivating people to adopt healthy behaviours that will protect themselves

Maria de Bruyn received an MA degree in West European Studies from Indiana University in the USA and an MA degree in Cultural Anthropology/Non-Western Sociology with a specialization in medical anthropology from the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. She is currently a Policy Analyst with the US office of Ipas, an international NGO working on women’s reproductive health. From 1989-January 2000 she was a project manager for reproductive health projects (mainly HIV/AIDS) at the Royal Tropical Institute in Amsterdam; there she was an Executive Editor of the international newsletter Sexual Health Exchange and manager of the AIDS Coordination Bureau resource centre. She may be contacted at: Ipas, 300 Market Street, Suite 200, Chapel Hill, NC 27516, USA.