in AIDS and South Africa: The Social Expression of a Pandemic

By Sonia Ehrlich Sachs and Jeffrey Sachs

Editors: Kauffman, K., Lindauer, D. (Eds.)

My observations on health issues in poor countries are from the point of view of a mother, a paediatrician and, in mid-life, a student of public health. I accompany Jeff often and we frequently take our kids to developing countries, and did so from when they were infants. Acquaintances often question the prudence of taking our children to countries with such high prevalence of diseases and low quality of medical care. But Jeff deflects such concerns by pointing at me, saying that he travels with his kids’ paediatrician. This is my first and only, albeit unofficial, role in health issues in poor countries. So before I became interested in public health, I was in charge of my family’s private health.