World imbalance and HIV/ AIDS – A new dimension

The world, as we know it, has always been imbalanced; whether it’s between East and West, North and South or Developed and Underdeveloped; some parts of the world have always evidenced social-economic advancement at a superior level when compared to others.

Despite the opening up of the Global market place, increasing resource flow across boarders and advances in communication and awareness, the gap between the haves and have-nots is unwavering; where the have-nots continue to be economically and socially second grade citizens of the world.

Over the past couple of centuries, the once revered continent of Africa has consistently featured prominently on the negative side of this imbalanced equation. Scholars, a many, have made an effort to analyze exhaustively and explore the source of Africa’s chronic predicament without much avail.

High on this seemingly endless list of plausible causes is colonial disempowerment of Africa as was famously propagated by Walter Rodney, to the modern day concerns around corruption by post independence African governments and the role of self appointed global watchdogs that represent the interests of the powerful.

HIV/AIDS, which publicly hit the world in the eighties and arguably started in the west/ north/ developed world, presents a new dimension to this already disheartening picture. This disease arguably does not discriminate and touches us human beings where we are most sensitive (I need not elaborate more), has found permanence and prominence across the globe… Yet when looking at statistics, one clearly sees that the gap is also increasing when it comes to its impact between the developed world and the underdeveloped world and Africa is no exception.

One may quickly turn to our popular list of ‘justifications’ to explain this alarming state as we struggle to play-out the blame game and solicit donor for more funding: overwhelming poverty, poor infrastructure and service facilities or the most infamous of all – the colonial legacy…

By doing so we impliedly assume that HIV/AIDS does in effect discriminate against those who are poor and disadvantaged? This may be true for individuals who are exposed to this disease, but can be quite misleading when it comes to evaluating the progress of or strategizing a way forward for a country.

Two of Africa’s most powerful economies, rich in minerals and heritage, South Africa & Botswana, are also the most ravaged by HIV/AIDS. In South Africa – an estimated 5.4million of the 47 million citizens have HIV, amongst the highest totals in the world! Mind that South Africa is just one of several examples and is far from being an exception.

HIV/ AIDS, in most developed countries, is no longer classified as a terminal disease as is the case in most underdeveloped countries; it is classified as a chronic disease like diabetes, hence reducing the stigma associated with it as a result of the presumed fate of those who are victims of it. Likewise, in recent years literally no children, in most developed countries, are borne HIV positive because of preventative steps that are taken to protect children against contracting the virus during and after birth if it is established that their parents are HIV positive. This is definitely not the case in underdeveloped countries.

Living and procreation or having a family are fundamental rights that everyone should enjoy without discrimination; so why is Africa, like other underdeveloped parts of the world, once again getting the short end of the stick? Walter Rodney is quoted in his controversial book How Europe Underdeveloped Africa as saying that “the bane of developing countries lies in their own lopsided priorities.

Now if this is an ill we have inherited from our colonial powers than we have increased it’s intensity with every successive post independence government…” Could this be a tale of too many mixed and often conflicting priorities? Just as much as we want to curb the spread of HIV/ AIDS, we would rather implement misguided policies to preserve our personal egos or plunder invaluable donor funds to materially advance ourselves.

Time and again we are told of billions being handed over to Africa for the sole reason of combating the spread of HIV/AIDS, yet the spread of this disease continues to escalate in a way that defies rational and all we have to show are endless workshops, a ferocious appetite for analysis paralysis and the mushrooming of opportunistic NGOs.

The stark realization that this writer would like to bring to the forefront is that efforts to curb the impact of HIV/ AIDS should borrow from key lessons learnt in other areas where we have failed or succeeded: poverty reduction, good governance, education reform to name a few. It is not as much about the resources donors or governments pump into this battle as it is about what that money does for the end beneficiary – the common man on the street who needs treatment, the adolescent who needs to build up his confidence to overcome peer pressure…

Funds are often misappropriated from conception because we choose to adopt policies that lack foresight and/ or insight. The resources invested in the battle to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS and its impact on the future of Africa are too important not to ensure that well coordinated interventions are implemented and accounted for. Balancing this equation begins with us pushing our weight in the right direction; short of that we have no one to blame but ourselves.