Abstract
HIV/AIDS is one of the major health problems in sub-Saharan Africa. The authoritative rise of HIV/AIDS as a major problem is one of the realities which Africa needs to check carefully. Thousands of people have died due to this; many of them still remain alive with the cruel virus. In spite of this, all interrelated actors, institutions and political leaders are absent to take preventative measures. The African HIV/AIDS crisis is due to the lack of governance and mismanagement of infrastructure and equipment.
The invention and discovery of an effective vaccine or cure would bring closure to this crisis in the continent. However, in the short term there is no possibility of the invention of medicine for appropriate treatment. In fact, all the professional equipment is in short supply because the political leaders have not paid attention and also, there is lack of concern for the needy. The alarm about HIV/AIDS has been ‘simply’ about either heath or development. The concern is nothing more than it has been about politics governance at the national, regional and international levels.
HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa: Politics, Aid and Globalization, written by Adrian Flints, is a well-done scholarship on the pandemic HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa. HIV/AIDS was detected in Africa as a first case about 30 years ago. This disease is well known around the world; however, misinformation, prejudice and ignorance still remain widespread among the people in this region. Adrian Flints also argues that HIV/AIDS in Africa is heavily politicised and the government, policy-makers and NGOs face a series of dilemmas on how to respond to the problems of HIV/AIDS. The main international donors PEPFAR, Global Fund and MAP cannot be seen as the solution to the HIV/AIDS crisis; they are only into treating the symptoms.
This book raises concerns on how politics and governance lie at the heart of understanding and combating the HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa. The author further discusses the political issues that have been associated with the pandemic HIV/AIDS. The precautionary measures for HIV/AIDS in Africa are highly politicised by the government and political leaders; therefore, policy-makers and NGOs face a lot of problems when they respond to HIV/AIDS.
The author has organised the book into eight chapters with clear explanations on the issues related to HIV/AIDS. He discusses the overall crisis of HIV/AIDS in a continental scope. He articulates very significantly the issues such as gender violence, policy-making, and methods of healing, international response, governance and access to anti-retrovirals (ARVs) in the HIV/AIDS crisis areas in Africa. The author’s argument and examination has been provided in subsequent paragraphs.
The first chapter of the book is about the historical perspective of sex and disease. He further focuses on the various factors which are related to communicable diseases, such as lack of health care infrastructure and poverty. He gives a lengthy discourse on sex and disease and a precursor to the HIV/AIDS discourse on syphilis origins in a continental scope.
Again, he explores, in the second chapter, the origins of HIV/AIDS and that the human agency has potentially been central to the story and continues to be so in Africa. The origin of the disease was surrounded by a conspiracy theory; it was allegedly imposed from outside Africa and it is also argued that it is a colonial legacy. Furthermore, the author also charts the HIV/AIDS spread and political governance in the African continent.
Adrian Flints, in the third chapter, brings up the issues that have been related to gender hierarchies, sexual violence and poverty that go hand in hand with communicable diseases. He further describes in this book that the high level of sexual violence in the continent has been sustaining the HIV/AIDS expansion in Africa. Masculinity and the imposition of gender hierarchies and poverty are also some of the big factors for HIV/AIDS in Africa. Because of poverty, patients have poor-quality medicines and use traditional healing processes as a major treatment for HIV/AIDS. There are very few political leaders who are keeping in touch with this continent, except for the president of Uganda, Yoweri Muuseveni, Botswana, Senegal, etc.
In the fourth chapter, Adrian Flints states the relevance of policy-making and dissidence. It entails that the dissident views remained one of the crucial influences on the government’s response to HIV/AIDS. The author further describes the involvement of political leaders like Thambo Mbeki and globalisation of the issues of HIV/AIDS.
Adrian Flints also provides, in the fifth chapter of the book, that the factors for the HIV/AIDS crisis have been defined due to the lack of a medical cure. There are also a number of shortages of trained medical professionals in problem-solving for the crisis that have been unable to check HIV/AIDS patients. Again, the coverage of distribution of ARVs remains low due to poor distribution networks. He further describes how HIV/AIDS could be ended through well-facilitated governance at the national as well as international levels. The strong traditional healing process in the continent has led, ultimately, to a worsening of mortality.
The author again describes, in the sixth chapter, the multilateral and unilateral responses from the international community for funding. He extends the roles of PEPFAR and MAP on the issues of HIV/AIDS. Again, the seventh chapter of the book further highlights that morality and behavioural change can reduce the risk of HIV/AIDS. The moral framework advocates reinforcement of the gender hierarchy and also reduces the risk of a social vaccine for HIV/AIDS. Uganda is a special case of a miracle in the African continent on grounds of morality and behavioural change.
Finally, the author highlights the issues of multinational pharmaceutical companies increasing protection afforded to the intellectual property rights of their products. Big Pharma, the US government and WTO represent the most obvious hate figures. The author argues that inadequate protection for drug companies has led to faltering innovation and research and development. He further argues that the whole cost is a red herring; even though drugs are free, millions of HIV/AIDS patients suffer in Africa without any treatment due to insufficient health care infrastructure and personnel.
After an overall review of the chapters, I would like to point out some areas that the author has focussed less on a concrete study of this particular country. The author has more critiques on policy and governance than a possible discourse on specific areas. Combating HIV/AIDS is simply about ensuring sustainable health care; there is less understanding in policy-making and governance system of the government among the sub-Saharan Africa countries.
After an overall discussion, I would like to conclude that the book presents a well-defined synoptic view of HIV/AIDS infections and deaths in Africa as a continental scope. The crisis of HIV/AIDS can be understood to be due to the failure of politics and governance in Africa. This book makes a significant contribution to studies of communicable diseases and would be of immense help to students, research scholars and those who are interested in studies of the African continent, HIV/AIDS as well as the role of aid donors in Africa.