Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
centres promoting safe sex education and counselling for HIv has helped patients
dilute the stigma over a taboo subject.
erratic sexual activity and drug addictions make abstinence and condom use
difficult to implement. However, the persistence of HIV/AIDS in South Africa
demonstrates how suspicions of former imperial powers, misinformation, sheer
ignorance, and complacency can exacerbate the impact of a disease by making it
more difficult to disseminate vaccines and medicine. Mbeki and his minister of health
on numerous occasions publicly claimed that art was a ploy by pharmaceutical
companies to maximise profits, stating that the drugs' safety and efficacy were
questionable. this needless rhetoric was accompanied by unsubstantiated claims that
a diet of beetroot and garlic would suffice as a substitute for antiretroviral drugs.
there is a need both for southern african states and the international community
to reassess the concept of security, especially the human element, in the context
of HIv, international politics, and development. the HIv/aIDS epidemic and the
challenges that it poses to governments in the region, as well as the accompanying
global responses, must take into account the consequences for international security.
the HIv/aIDS epidemic should be treated with the same levels of engagement and
intensity that accompany other traditional security threats, particularly the global
response to international terrorism following the attacks of September 11. as Pieter
Fourie and Martin Schönteich (2001) argue, HIv/aIDS overwhelms health services,
shortens lives, destabilises governments, and disrupts societies, sometimes to the
extent that major conflict ensues. They predict that in South africa, the rapid spread
of HIv/aIDS will likely result in a severe shortage of skills and human resources
needed for effective government. consequently, political instability may result in
complex humanitarian emergencies and crime, neither of which can be addressed
without effective government.
Fourie (2006) assesses the social and political impact of HIv/aIDS in the
country using human security as a lens through which to determine the causes and
effects of the unfolding disaster. He focusses specifically on the implications of
HIv/aIDS on food, populations, security, and the government's ability to provide
essential services. Fourie concludes that unless public policy makers address the
structural causes of the aIDS epidemic (race relations, sexual violence, and cultural
factors), the country will continue to suffer the ravages of the epidemic.
Response
there has been tremendous interest in support for initiatives that combat HIv/aIDS
in southern africa from various governments, local and global nGos, international
health organisations, civil society, and the private sector. However, in some instances
this interest has not translated into sufficient tangible monetary support.
In Swaziland, the government's capacity to respond effectively to the HIV/AIDS
crisis has waned due to depleted human and financial resources both in health and
other sectors. on the other hand, the response to Zambia's plight has been financial
resources to the tune of US$42 million from the world bank's Multi-country HIv/
