Abstract
It has become accepted wisdom that the world faces the most deadly threat to human
survival with the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Twenty-two years later we still have not found a cure
and there are no agreements on the way forward. Is it possible that we are looking at the
wrong cause or has humanity finally reached its demise? Thus not surprising as HIV and
AIDS poses a real challenge to human kind and the science community as a whole.
In the West HIV infection is still contained within its original risk group. However, Africa,
Asia and South America pose a different challenge as the risk group is primarily made up of
heterosexual individuals, as Professor Eileen Stillwagon noted, “taking a swipe at those who
blame sexual behaviour for the rampant HIV epidemic in Southern Africa are still caught up
in exotic notions about Africans”.
Differences in sexual behaviour cannot explain the 100 fold variations in HIV prevalence in
the world. However, Global HIV/AIDS policy in the world still relies almost exclusively on
behavioural interventions, abstinence and condoms as means of intervention. President
Thabo Mbeki has been the most vocal proponent for poverty to be put on the global
HIV/AIDS, thus condemning Western notions regarding Africans sexuality. The inescapable
conclusion being made is that HIV is being sustained by sexual networking and, for whatever
reasons, poverty stricken black South Africans seem to be the most uninhibited and most
promiscuous sexual networkers in the world, compared to other races thus explaining the
highest prevalence is a mistake. At present the Global strategy where HIV/AIDS is
concerned has not been successful, especially in Sub- Saharan Africa where prevention has
been the primary focus and later treatment using allopathic medicine. Thus the one size fits
all approach in dealing with the pandemic is a mistake. Hence South Africa’s STIs, especially
syphilis, is on the decline yet new HIV infections are said to be on the rise. This is contrary
to the West, especially in The United States of America. Chlamydia and genital herpes are as
high as 30 -40% yet there is no HIV infection. HIV and AIDS in Africa need to be addressed
with an African strategy as it clear that Africa/South Africa is faced with a unique challenge
compared to the West.
The fact is that though there have been discussions that South Africa faces a doomsday
scenario, not all researchers conclude that HIV/AIDS is having a major impact on South
Africa's overall economy. Nevertheless, the general consensus is that by undermining health
and the development of human capital, HIV/AIDS will increasingly undermine the
foundations of human and economic development. The details of this impact are, however,
as yet poorly understood. What is known is that individuals in the prime of their lives,
especially young women in child-bearing age groups are at the greatest risk of being
infected with the HI-virus. AIDS related illness and death often stand at the centre of a
complex web of interrelated knock-on effects with implications for the well-being of
individuals, households, economies and the state. It re-examines the most important
potential impacts on the South African economy by reviewing current research and
concludes that more than two decades after HIV was co-discovered by Drs Luc Montagnier
and Robert Gallo as the sole and sufficient cause of AIDS, consequences are only now
beginning to be appreciated. But the precise nature of these consequences has yet to be
determined with precision.
This study concludes that South Africa is uniquely positioned to define these consequences
and impacts. With what is acknowledged worldwide as the most comprehensive plan for the
treatment, care and prevention of HIV and AIDS; the largest roll-out of antiretrovirals in the
world, backed by health care policies that encompass nutritional support, traditional medical
approaches and the promotion of healthy lifestyles; as well as a government that remains
focussed on poverty alleviation, South Africa is well positioned to play a decisive role in the
battle against AIDS. A more focused approach is therefore needed to study the fundamental
causes of the rapid spread of HIV and AIDS in African countries especially South Africa is
needed.
Professor L. Greyling