10 - HIV/AIDS: Social Science and HIV/Aids Policies in Africa

Abstract

As is well-known the HIV infection profile in sub-Saharan Africa is very different from the HIV infection profile in the developed North. This paper explores the strengths and weaknesses of the three main explanations for this difference: the cultural explanation, the dependency explanation and the rational choice explanation. I argue that all three explanations have major problems. The cultural explanation ignores the variety of African cultures and the wide variations in sexual practices of Africans in different countries and ethnic communities. It also tends to place the blame for HIV/Aids on African women. The dependency model is too concerned with the workings of the world system, puts toomuch emphasis on poverty and overlooks the internal dynamics of the various countries of sub-Saharan Africa. The rational choice explanation underestimates the roles of emotion and habit in human sexual behaviour. Neverthelesssocial science research and debate have ensured that moralism has played a minimal role in the formulation of Aids policies in sub-Saharan Africa. Social science research shows that all individuals are at risk and that the situation is going to get worse unless serious effort is committed towards the fight against Aids. Social science debate has ensuredthat the afflicted are seen as victims more than as vectors. Aids policies in Africa have seesawed between containment of victims and potential victims and their sympathetic treatment. I argue that policies which do not emphasise containment are preferable. However for these to work the conditions which make Africa the most Aids-affected region in the world must be addressed. Poverty, inequality and underdevelopment must be seriously tackled if real progress is to be made in the fight against HIV/Aids.HIV/AIDS