HIV/AIDS Research and Publications - Norman Miller Archive

In the mid 1980s, Miller turned his attention to several HIV/AIDS projects, which were funded by UN agencies, the Ford Foundation, and the US Department of Defense. These included a textbook, “AIDS In Africa,” several independent publications, and two major projects, which included work in 28 nations and the publication of two research periodicals.

AIDS In Africa

In 1988, Miller, with Richard C. Rockwell edited “AIDS in Africa, the Social and Policy Impact (Edwin Mellen Press, 1988)” The text included 34 contributors, and was one of the early analysis and resource guides on the social impact of the epidemic. It covered health data, policy issues, historical perspectives, epidemiological perspectives, and included a comprehensive research guide for instructors and interested agencies.

Losing the Struggle Against AIDS

Miller’s 1991 article, “Losing the Struggle Against AIDS: Policy Issues in Africa’s Urban and Rural Dilemma,” published in the African Urban Quarterly suggested that the struggle against AIDS was being lost in Africa. Miller argued that the new urban environments of the 1960s and 1970s, which often had inadequate shelter, poor food, noise pollution, and unsanitary conditions, gave HIV/AIDS an ecological niche.

The Civil-Military Alliance and International Research and Policy Bulletin

In the 1990s, Miller co-directed with Dr. Stuart Kingman and Dr. Rodger Yeager, an international HIV/AIDS prevention and education project funded by WHO, UNAIDS, the Ford Foundation and other donors, which produced the newsletter AIDS and Society International Research and Policy Bulletin. In addition, between 1995 and 1999, Miller co-directed the Civil-Military Alliance to Combat HIV/AIDS which produced The Civil-Military Alliance Newsletter. The project files for this work, held at Michigan State University, include behavioral research; issues of health, politics, health policy, HIV transmission; and social issues particularly concerning the military and other uniformed services worldwide.

These two projects together produced 40 journals on HIV/AIDS policy in Africa, which now serve as examples of the early response to the epidemic in terms of prevention and education. Today they may be useful to those studying the history of HIV/AIDS prevention and education, and to those interested in how early policies to deal with the epidemic were formed. A number of topics relevant to international health courses include how the uniformed services around the world responded to the HIV epidemic—for example, militaries, police, prison officers, and seafarers gradually developed prevention material but usually after a long period of denial and uncertainty. A key problem was how to grapple with HIV transmission problems at the grassroots level.

The Civil-Military Alliance was a six-year project (1993-1999) that created training publications, research reports, as well as holding training conferences and research workshops in 28 nations of the world, mainly in Africa and Latin America. Initial planning occurred at a seminar in Berlin, Germany, June 6-7, 1993, sponsored by UNDP and the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. Click to view conference proceedings and sample poster.

AIDS and Society

The AIDS and Society International Research and Policy Bulletin was founded and edited by Miller, and published by the African-Caribbean Institute from 1989-1995. The 24 publications in 6 volumes provide an important historical view of emerging issues in the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The bulletins address key topics about HIV/AIDS, such as the development of vaccines, HIV in the military, prostitution, prisons, human rights, and orphaned children. They carry inserts of work from international agencies, including the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the Center for International Research, National Academy of Sciences, UNDP etc.

Civil-Military Alliance

The Civil-Military Alliance Newsletter was a second publication of the African-Caribbean Institute. Between 1995 and 1999, Miller co-directed the Civil-Military Alliance to Combat HIV/AIDS. Sixteen newsletters provide a history of early HIV prevention efforts in the sector of military and uniformed services (military, police, prisons, and seafarers).

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