Preventing AIDS in Africa, Essay Example

More people died from AIDS in Africa between 1999 and 2000 than in all the wars on the continent. According to UNAIDS estimations for 2008, approximately 33.4 million with living with HIV, 2.7 million new HIV infections occurred, and 2 million died from AIDS (Shah). In addition to horrifying statistics, AIDS crisis is also worsened due to corrupt governments, high poverty rates, low literacy rates, lack of access to medications, and clear planning. But no crisis is too complicated to be tackled successfully even if it may require considerable financial resources, expertise, and time. Private sector should take more active approach in tackling the AIDS crisis in Africa because private sector is usually better prepared, more efficient, result-oriented, less bureaucratic, better planner, and less wasteful.

First of all, pharmaceutical companies should permit the generic versions of their AIDS medications or may even donate the drugs themselves. It will not only be the morally right thing to do but will also economically benefit the pharmaceutical companies in the long run. As of now, most pharmaceutical companies have resisted African countries’ attempts to use generic versions of their expensive drugs. When the Export-Import Bank of the United States offered $1 billion per year for five-years in loans to Sub-Saharan Africa to finance purchase of HIV drugs from U.S. pharmaceutical companies, Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe rejected the offer because it would increase national debt for them while benefitting U.S. pharmaceutical companies (Shah). But if pharmaceutical companies agree to generic versions or even provide drugs free, they will increase goodwill for them not only in African countries but also in developed countries where customers care about corporate social responsibility.

Private sector should also take more active approach, just like Gates Foundation has been doing. This is because the private sector doesn’t have to deal with multiple layers of rules, and bureaucracy and utilizes resources more efficiently. They do not have to worry about politics and can mobilize resources more quickly. AIDS crisis in Africa has also worsened due to the negligence of national governments such as administration of former South African President Thabo Mbeki who had long denied AIDS resulted from HIV. Governments have to worry about public opinions and religious groups but private sector can resist the pressure by utilizing their own resources. Another reason private sector should also step in because sometimes governments and public organizations scale back their operations due to financial or non-financial reasons. Examples include the withdrawal of resident advisors of WHO’s Global Programme on AIDS from national AIDS control programs in Africa (Cohen and Trussell).

Private sector should also include education and use of condoms in its plans to combat AIDS crisis in Africa. There is evidence that intervention programs to change behavior can be effective in preventing the spread of HIV (Cohen and Trussell). Despite the fact that condoms helps in slowing the growth rate of AIDS epidemic, there are still a number of social, cultural and practical factors due to which people hesitate from using condoms (Avert). Thus, the private sector should made education as important part of AIDS prevention strategy in Africa.

Some critics oppose condom use on religious grounds and one of the strong voices against condom use is the Catholic Church. Pope Benedict made a controversial claim in 2009 that condoms do not prevent AIDS but may actually increase it. The Pope claimed that abstinence is the only solution to the AIDS crisis in Africa (Butt). But practical experience shows us that abstinence only strategy doesn’t work. In fact, a Gallup survey in 19 sub-Saharan African countries showed that 88 percent of the respondents admitted to knowing that abstinence is one way of preventing AIDS growth yet this region supports almost two-thirds of the world’s HIV-infected population.

The low rate of success in war against AIDS shows that governments and public organizations have achieved little despite commitment of huge financial resources. This is because they are inefficient, have to take political consequences into account, are sometimes burdened with bureaucracy and excessive rules, or corruption gets in the way. Thus, private sector should come forward and adopt more realistic approaches to combating AIDS. The private sector has greater emphasis on results, thus, it would be able to achieve more, even with limited resources.

References

Avert. Condom use and HIV. 29 March 2012 <http://www.avert.org/hiv-aids-africa.htm#contentTable2>.

Butt, Riazat. Pope claims condoms could make African Aids crisis worse. 17 March 2009. 29 March 2012 <http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/17/pope-africa-condoms-aids>.

Cohen, Barney and James Trussell. Preventing and Mitigating AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa: Research and Data Priorities for the Social and Behavioral Sciences. 1st Edition. National Academy Press, n.d.

Shah, Anup. AIDS in Africa. 29 November 2009. 29 March 2012 <http://www.globalissues.org/article/90/aids-in-africa>.