HIV AIDS is a disease that has baffled the best scientific minds of the West. This is due in part to its incredible complexity. Factors such as culture, environment, nutrition and lifestyle all influence its incidence and progression. As a result it is much more amenable to anthropological analysis than many other diseases encountered in developed societies. Due to financial constraints, developing nations often have to rely on herbal medicine, spirituality, and other approaches beyond the pharmaceuticals of industrial societies. In this column we will look at the diversity of responses to AIDS from around the world which offer territories of exploration for future AIDS therapies.

India

In India, innovative approaches to AIDS based on indigenous plant medicines are being explored. Shashank R. Joshi, MD, president of the HOPE Foundation in Mumbai, India, explains that since few patients in India have access to expensive triple-drug combination, antiretroviral treatment practitioners have had to develop low-cost treatment models. In particular, he has found that he can prevent mitochondrial toxicity in patients taking AIDS drugs by giving them proper immunonutrition, including herbs and other dietary supplements. This nutritional therapy is particularly important in the Indian population because wasting is a major problem.