The Return of Hans Rosling

Statistician extraordinaire Hans Rosling is back on the presentation circuit with data that suggests reorienting the debate over the success of AIDS prevention could be a wise next move.

Unveiling data at a recent TED conference, Rosling, Director of the Gapminder Institute, shows that prevention efforts in AIDS-afflicted countries can be skewed if experts only focused on death rates from the virus.

In middle-income Bostwana, for example, AIDS still looms as a major health threat despite success in increasing life expectancy for carriers through drug treatments.

Rosling goes on to describe how Sweden’s tradition of “serial monogamy” has produced a burly chlamydia epidemic.

For a Big Think primer on Rosling’s approach to interactive statistics, have a look at Rosling’s presentation on the surprising relationship between GDP per capita and infant mortality.