Lauren Kaplan illuminates the problematic issues in the life experiences of people living with HIV. She focuses on the challenges embedded in social policy such as access, cost, and availability of quality medical care as well as immigration policies, which can restrict the freedom of people to travel, work, and live in different nations and regions. Another focus are stigma, discrimination as well as existential struggles of identity, meaning, and reality. By engaging in a transnational comparison, the author identifies areas of strength and weakness in domestic U.S. policy as compared to social policies in Germany.

Lauren Kaplan completed her doctoral dissertation at the Goethe University Frankfurt am Main. She is now a research officer in the Department of Social Policy and Intervention at Oxford University.