The Politics of Prevention

David Archer, Tania Boler

Description

AIDS kills over two million people every year and nearly 33 million people are infected with HIV worldwide. However, HIV prevention has slipped down the international agenda and meaningful attempts to tackle it are hampered by religious ideology and power struggles.



This book brings together stories from around the world that explore and expose the underlying 'politics of prevention' which deny millions of people life-saving education. The larger issues and trends in the global fight against AIDS are also studied, including the rise of the controversial abstinence-only movement in the US, which is now being exported to Africa.



In response to the unfavourable political climate, those worst affected by the crisis are becoming politicised in order to overcome the inertia in the international community and take truly effective action against AIDS.
1. The Epidemic Of Prejudice

2. The Impact Of Aids On Education

3. A Crisis In Education

4. The Power Of Prevention

5. Beyond Prevention

6. From Personal To Political

7. Religion Versus Science

8. The Politics Of Aid

9. The Power Of Money

10. Concluding Remarks

Notes

Index

Sujets

• Emerging Countries
• Developing Countries
• Social Science
• Development studies
• General officer
• Development
• General

Informations

• Publié par: Pluto Press
• Date de parution: 20 juin 2008
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781849643740
• Langue: English

Extrait

The Politics of Prevention
A Global Crisis in AIDS and Education
TANIA BOLER and DAVID ARCHER
Pluto P Press
LONDON ANN ARBOR, MI
BBoler 00 pre iiioler 00 pre iii 77/5/08 16:36:31/5/08 16:36:31First published 2008 by Pluto Press
345 Archway Road, London N6 5AA
and 839 Greene Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48106
www.plutobooks.com
Copyright © Tania Boler and David Archer 2008
The right of TArcher to be identifi ed as the authors of this work
has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act
1988.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 0 7453 2733 4 Hardback978 0 7453 2732 7 Paperback
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data applied for
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and
sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected
to conform to the environmental standards of the country of origin.
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Printed and bound in India
BBoler 00 pre ivoler 00 pre iv 77/5/08 16:36:31/5/08 16:36:31Contents
Acknowledgements vii
Foreword ix
Acronyms and Abbreviations xi
Introduction 1
1 The Epidemic of Prejudice 7
2 The Impact of Aids on Education 19
3 A Crisis in Education 31
4 The Power of Prevention 46
5 Beyond Prevention 62
6 From Personal to Political 75
7 Religion versus Science 90
8 The Politics of Aid 105
9 The Power of Money 118
10 Concluding Remarks 133
Notes 140
Contact Organisations 155
The Work of ActionAid 157
Index 158
BBoler 00 pre voler 00 pre v 77/5/08 16:36:31/5/08 16:36:31Lost Summer
By Jan Gerhard Toonder, for Jeannette Boler
There has been joy, for Spring
was sweet to the frail sprig
that strove to meet life’s promise:
but summer stayed away
and autumn took its place.
Your life; such brittle twig,
a plaything for the wind;
the sun without a noon,
the light of day too soon
descending into night,
the moon and stars too far,
no hiding place in sight.
We, on the beach, have watched
your being carried out
to sea and drift beyond
our clumsy human reach:
so grieve, for all that could
have been, our empty hands,
the summer lost to fl ight –
and wish that in the end
you found the shore where your
missed season waits,
beyond all loneliness and fright.
(© Jan Gerhard Toonder estate, 1992.
Reproduced by kind permission)
Boler 00 pre viBoler 00 pre vi 7/5/08 16:36:317/5/08 16:36:31Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the many people who we interviewed during
the course of researching this book. Some names have been changed
to protect the identity of individuals who have not gone public with
their status or who requested anonymity for other reasons. Extracts
from interviews are set in sans italic. Some of the HIV material is drawn
from reports written by the authors while working at ActionAid
International. We would like to thank ActionAid for granting
copyright to replicate this material and for their continued support
during the process of writing this book. Any profi ts that we make, as
authors, will be donated to ActionAid’s education and HIV work.
Many thanks to all the individuals and organisations who shared
information, commented on earlier drafts or hosted visits. These
include Peter Aggleton, Flavia Antunes, Edson Arata, Jean-David Aube,
Paul Bennell, Annet Biryetega, Jasmine Boler, Daopahai Buelom,
Jose Carlos Veloso, Viviane Castello Branco, Dhianaraj Chetty,
David Clarke, Madalena Guilhon, Tanika Gupta, Roger Ingham,
Anne Jelleman, Nancy Kendall, Pornsuk Koetsawang, Christina
Kon, Liliana Lauria, Gareth Lavell, Fiona Leach, Gabriella Leite,
Flavio Lenz, Aadeliah Maker, Kamolpren Mana, Teopista Burungi
Mayanja, Julio Mujojo, Maria Nandago, Leonard Okello, Namphung
Plangraun, Rick Rowden, Amos Sibambo, Lucy Stackpool-Moore,
Celia Szterenfeld, Katarina Tomasevski, Beatrice Were, Ekua Yankah
and Patrick Young.
vii
Boler 00 pre viiBoler 00 pre vii 77/5/08 16:36:31/5/08 16:36:31Foreword
Mary Robinson
Today’s globalisation is one of stark contrasts. There are more
connections – markets, people and ideas – linked than ever before. At
the same time, there are more divisions – between North and South,
between rich and poor, between the powerful and powerless.
Nowhere are these divides more apparent than in the twin crises
in HIV and in education.
In a short period of 30 years, an epidemic of HIV has spread
throughout all regions of the world, destroying the lives of millions of
people. HIV has not affected all parts of the world equally. It is in poor
and marginalised communities, where HIV has spread the fastest.
With HIV and AIDS, groups who have already faced gross violations
of their rights to live in dignity, to education and to health are being
further marginalised and stigmatised. In effect, a vicious cycle is set
up in which the violation of rights increases vulnerability to HIV
infection which in turn leads to a further violation of rights. This
explains why infection rates among young women in sub-Saharan
Africa are so high.
This is why it is so urgent for people around the world to unite
against an epidemic which is largely preventable. HIV is preventable
through an individual’s intrinsic ability to learn and change.
Education is core to HIV prevention. Unfortunately, this potential
has largely been underutilised and undermined by the fact that the
majority of poor children in the majority of poor countries do not
have the opportunity to secure their right to education.
Education is a fundamental human right in itself and a powerful
enabling right – meaning that gaining an education helps people
secure their other rights. It is thus an outrage that today there are over
70 million children who are not in school – the majority of whom
are girls – and over 700 million adults who cannot read or write.
The Politics of Prevention brings together stories from around the
world that explore and expose the nature of the twin crises – in
education and in HIV. This timely book places the HIV epidemic
into the context of wider international affairs. Despite huge increases
in funding to tackle the HIV epidemic, HIV prevention has slipped
ix
BBoler 00 pre ixoler 00 pre ix 77/5/08 16:36:31/5/08 16:36:31x The Politics of Prevention
down the international agenda and the response is hampered and
weakened because of an underlying ‘politics of prevention’. Little
is being done to galvanise the leadership needed to support and
empower marginalised and stigmatised groups.
Education can be used to bring about change on a mass scale. This
book is pivotal in highlighting how individuals and communities
have the power to assert their rights to education, to health and to
a life in dignity.
The realisation of rights needs to serve as the foundation for
responding to the globalised challenges of HIV and education. A
rights-based globalised response is based on acknowledging the
shared responsibilities we have for addressing global challenges and
needs to affi rm that our common humanity doesn’t stop at national
borders. We need to recognise that all individuals are equal in dignity
and have the right to certain entitlements, rather than viewing them
as objects of benevolence or charity. Specifi cally, we need to embrace
the importance of gender and the need for attention to the often
different impacts of HIV and education policies on women and men.
Finally we need to affi rm that a world which is already connected
by technology and trade must also be connected by shared values,
norms of behaviour and systems of accountability.
The Politics of Prevention offers us real and inspiring examples of
how this vision can become a reality, advancing the notion of shared
responsibility for the global challenges of HIV and education.
Mary Robinson
Former President of Ireland
Former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
President, Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative
BBoler 00 pre xoler 00 pre x 77/5/08 16:36:31/5/08 16:36:31Acronyms and Abbreviations
AIDS Acquired Immune Defi ciency Syndrome
ART antiretroviral therapy
ARV antiretroviral
AZT azidothymidine
DFID UK Department for International Development
EFA Education For All
FTI Fast Track Initiative
GCE Global Campaign for Education
GIPA Greater involvement of people living with HIV and
AIDS
HIV Human immunodefi ciency virus
HPV Human papilloma virus
IMF International Monetary Fund
NGO Non-government organisation
OECD Organisation for Economic Cooperation and
Development
PCP Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia
PEPFAR President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief
PTR Pupil to teacher ratio
STAR Societies Tackling AIDS through Rights
TRIPS Trade-related intellectual property rights
UNAIDS Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS
UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientifi c and Cultural
Organisation
UNFPA The United Nations Population Fund
UNICEF The United Nations Children’s Fund
US The United States of America
USAID United States Agency for International Development
WB World Bank
WHO World Health Organisation
WTO World Trade Organisation
xi
BBoler 00 pre xioler 00 pre xi 77/5/08 16:36:31/5/08 16:36:31Introduction
Early in the new millennium, the world is slowly waking up to the
enormity of an epidemic that just 30 years ago was almost unknown.
1In 2007 alone, more than 2 million people died because of AIDS. The
epidemic has stealthily weaved its way through humanity, exposing
divisions and creating new turmoil. It has sharpened the gulf between
the few ‘haves’ and the majority of ‘have-nots’. This epidemic has
deepened the chasm between those who see religion in decline and
those who cling to faith with unrivalled zeal, forcing un