In 2003, 2.2 million people died from AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa. It's difficult to comprehend a disaster of this magnitude, but Distinguished Professor Jane Menken, who has spent her career on research intended to help people in developing countries improve their lives, is trying. She is researching the impact of AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, where the disease "has erased all gains in life expectancy since 1950."

	Jane Menken has spent her career on research intended to help people in developing countries improve their lives, especially in rural areas of Bangladesh such as those shown here.

What makes the sociologist's contributions in this area so valuable is her groundbreaking work in applying mathematics to the study of women, fertility, and social networks. Menken, a member of the National Academy of Sciences and director of CU-Boulder's interdisciplinary Institute of Behavioral Science, and other demographers are tracking what is happening to people in sub-Saharan Africa as a result of AIDS so the best and most cost-effective programs can be identified and implemented. In work funded by the National Institute on Aging, Menken is studying how older women are affected by the illness and loss of their adult children due to AIDS.

"The group we are working with is finding that over the past 12 years there has been a startling rise in heart disease and stroke among women 50 and older," she said. "Part of the question is whether this is related to the stress and loss they are experiencing."

In a 2002 commencement address, Menken told CU graduates, "Old people not only have lost the support they expected from their children, but have to care for ill and dying children and assume responsibility for orphaned grandchildren. It has been a sobering experience to see the conditions under which the great majority of people in the world live out their lives. But there is also hope...the human spirit everywhere is self-reliant and resilient."