Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
five pregnant mothers continue to test HIV positive, one of the highest levels in
the world. Much can be done to bolster the government's prevention programme to
penetrate more remote rural areas across the country (Human rights watch 2005).
At the same time, there has been increasing criticism regarding the efficiency at
which art is being provided. In 2006, the country announced a rapid increase in
the provision of art (with the goal of having more than 300 000 people on art by
2010). but only about 230 000 out of the 350 000 Zimbabweans in need of art are
currently being treated (Human rights watch 2006).
Case Study: South Africa
South africa is a land of sharp contrasts and intractable divisions that plague its
much-applauded political transformation since the end of apartheid in 1994. two
very different worlds have emerged within the country—one with affluent first-
world standards applying mainly to white South africans (9.6 percent of the total
population) and the other, an impoverished world, populated by the majority of its
black population who make up 79 percent of the total population (Statistics South
africa 2003). Indeed the country has a two-tiered economy. at one level, its largely
wealthy white population has long continued to reap the benefits of a competitive
and robust economy. assessed on its own, white South africa would have been
ranked 24th in the world in 1994, competitive with Hong Kong, Spain, and Greece,
according to the 1994 Human Development Index (United nations Development
Programme [UNDP] 1994). At the other level of the economic divide, extreme
poverty continues to engulf the large majority of non-white citizens. On its own,
black South africa would have been ranked 123rd. Put in other terms, 20 percent
of white South africans earned 20 times more than their poorest black counterparts
(besada 2007). Scholars such as alan whiteside and clem Sunter (2000) have
argued that this income disparity and poverty, which continue to afflict the bulk of
the population, have created a fertile ground for the spread of the HIv/aIDS. In
turn, the epidemic compounds and even deepens the crisis situation by negatively
affecting labour trends, population growth, the entire healthcare system, and more.
In short, poverty increases the likelihood of contracting HIv/aIDS and HIv/aIDS
worsens the conditions associated with poverty.
according to whiteside and Sunter (2000), South african society is both
particularly susceptible to the spread of HIv and particularly vulnerable to its impact,
because of a downward spiral of existing social, economic, and human deprivations.
they hypothesise that the rate and spread of infection in any given country depend
on two variables: the degree of social cohesion and the overall level of wealth. If
this theory is applied to South africa—a country with low levels of social cohesion
and relatively high and disparate incomes—then the rapidly spreading HIv/aIDS
epidemic in South africa is a telling case. whiteside and Sunter conclude that 'the
country will be waging an uncivil war against an invisible enemy more ruthless than
any human adversary'.
