Recipients
Simonne Horwitz
HIV/AIDS has a unique history in Saskatchewan. Dr. Simonne Horwitz believes that by identifying the social determinants of health and the social impact of the disease – and how these changed over time – she will be able to develop a comprehensive understanding of the historical structures leading to specific patterns of HIV/AIDS.
Dr. Horwitz is collecting empirical primary data as well as secondary literature. She is engaging with public, archival and oral sources as well as academic literature in a local, national and international context. She hopes to show that no disease develops in isolation, and that a historic understanding of how such a disease was constructed and spread is vital in understanding the social forces shaping it and thus in developing effective health and social policy.
By first recognizing the social and historical relations that shape the epidemiology of the disease, Dr. Horwitz believes her research will contribute to the implementation of socially acceptable and provincially relevant strategies to tackle the rising number of HIV/AIDS cases in Saskatchewan. From a broader context, her research has the potential to demonstrate that serious historical inquiry is of significant value to the development of modern health policy.
