This article pertains to the AIDS
crisis in Africa, specifically South Africa, and how the government's
policy has shifted under the new administration to address it. South
Africa's current president Jacob Zuma is the first leader of South
Africa to publicly address the link between HIV and AIDS and as such
has allocated a considerably greater portion of the government's
resources to help those citizens who are infected and to stop its
spread. The government has doubled the amount of HIV drugs it
administers to the public and has loosened the requirements for the
drugs so as to allow more access. South Africa has an infection rate
of over 10% and Zuma's shift in policy represents one of the first
real initiatives by an African government to address the AIDS crises
that has devastated the continent.
I chose this article because the shift
in health policy that its reporting on is significant for the future
of the epidemic. The shift in policy by Africa's most powerful
country could have far reaching effects and could perhaps signal a
continent wide shift in attitudes about AIDS and how to combat it. It
is an important issue not only from a healthcare standpoint but also
because HIV/ AIDS' prevalence in Africa has caused dire economic
consequences, leading to a net economic loss of 1% annually in many
countries.
Given that AIDS is such a new epidemic,
there are very few political science observations that apply to it.
It has not significantly factored into the composition of African
governments beaus it has by-and-large been ignored by them due to
ignorance, social conservatism, or indifference. The only result on
the political level is that South Africa's more progressive and
pragmatic stance may further politicize the ways in which AIDS is
combated at the government level. If there are tangible results in
South Africa, other African leaders may face increased pressure to
address the problem.
From a public policy standpoint,the
painfully obvious course of action for leaders in Sub-Saharan Africa
should be to administer as many drugs and condoms as fiscally
possible and to improve education and access to education with
regards to HIV/ AIDS.
Article:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-15854793
This article that was chosen is very interesting because of the fact that these efforts are taking place in South Africa. This is the country that has the highest number of infected people living with HIV/AIDS and it doesn't look like that is going to change anytime in the near future. What is nice to hear for a change is that a powerful leader is trying to implement change in order to better his country. However, it is so sad that it has taken this long for someone to actually stand up and provide the funds needed to double the medicine and to raise awareness. You talk about the public policy that needs to be seen in South Africa. My question is how are they going to educate people on this issue. While I agree that this is the best route in the path to stopping the epidemic of HIV/AIDS, we also learned that with so many adults dying of the disease, the children are having to take over the households, not allowing them to attend schools. I wonder if there are other ways to get the message across.
ReplyDeleteI found this post very interesting as well. HIV/AIDS is such a complex issue and affect so many different things. I too wonder what is the best way to spread the message specially in reference to children not attaining schools because they have household responsibilities. However, I would have to disagree that african governments have ignore that HIV/AIDS issue because of "ignorance, social conservatism, or indifference". I certainly don't think indifference is the reason because every leader should be concern with so many citizens dying and it crippling the workforce and economy. I also don't think ignorance is the correct term I think it is more that they are uneducated about the facts. There are people still in the US who are uneducated and educated about the facts and still don't practice safe sex.
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