DEL CASINO, V.J. University of Kentucky The research investigates the spatial distribution of HIV/AIDS as well as the geographic dimensions of health care outreach in Chiang Mai province, Thailand. The study: (1) traces the development and growth of the AIDS (PWH/A) support group movement in relation to the growing HIV/AIDS population; (2) examines the organizational and spatial strategies used by the AIDS Foundation in developing PWH/A groups; and (3) investigates the operations and outreach projects affiliated with the AIDS Foundation. The social, political, and economic contexts of these processes are examined in order to expand our understanding of the medical spaces of health care. The significance of the study is that it examines both disease and health care facility distribution coincidentally in a non-Western context and thereby promises advances in the field of medical geography. A new methodological framework for cross-cultural and cross-institutional analysis will be developed.
