Rethinking the African Aids Epidemic

Bibliographic Data

ID4122680
AuthorsJohn C Caldwell (Australian National University, corresponding author)
Year2000
Volume26
Issue1
Pages117-135
Publication date2000-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePopulation and Development Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0098-7921 • E-ISSN: 1728-4457
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1728-4457.2000.00117.x
OpenAlexW2112825546
LanguageEN
Citations received60
References cited41

Half the AIDS victims in the world are in East and Southern Africa, where adult HIV sero-prevalence was 11.4 percent by the end of 1997 and over 25 percent in two countries of Southern Africa. HIV/AIDS infection is not the result of ignorance, as nearly everyone has sufficient knowledge about AIDS and how it is transmitted. The high levels of AIDS arise from the failure of African political and religious leaders to recognize social and sexual reality. The means for containing and conquering the epidemic are already known, and could prove effective if the leadership could be induced to adopt them. The lack of individual behavioral change and of the implementation of effective government policy has roots in attitudes to death and a silence about the epidemic arising from beliefs about its nature and the timing of death. International responsibility may have to be taken before the needed effective policies are put in place

Developing country · Development economics · Economic growth · Economics · Government (linguistics) · Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) · Ignorance · Political science · Politics · Silence · Social issues · Sociology · Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health · Global Maternal and Child Health · HIV/AIDS Impact and Responses · Law · Medicine · Virology