Multi-sectoral responses to HIV/AIDS: constraints and opportunities for technical co-operation
✍ Scribed by Günter Hemrich; Daphne Topouzis
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 2000
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 134 KB
- Volume
- 12
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0954-1748
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
The magnitude of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, the severity of its impact and the inadequacy of purely health-based responses have prompted national, bilateral and international organizations alike to adopt multi-sectoral responses to contain the spread and mitigate the eects of HIV/AIDS. So far, the implementation of multi-sectoral responses has been hampered by a host of structural, logistical and policy constraints. This article examines the operational status, implications and constraints of multisectoral responses to HIV/AIDS for technical co-operation programmes, focusing on agricultural and rural development projects supported by GTZ 1 in sub-Saharan Africa. The paper proposes a conceptual framework on the relevance of HIV/AIDS to nonhealth technical cooperation programmes, highlighting factors of susceptibility 2 and vulnerability 3 to the epidemic. It is argued that as HIV/AIDS is rooted in problems of underdevelopment, such as poverty, food and livelihood insecurity, socio-cultural inequalities and poor support services and infrastructure, AIDS-speci®c responses alone are unlikely to contain the spread or mitigate the impact of the epidemic. What is needed is a shift from AIDS-speci®c responses to what are oft-perceived to be AIDS-speci®c problems to an approach that addresses broader development problems across sectors, highlighting the speci®city of HIV where necessary.