AIDS in Africa

Cause and Effect Essay # 100467

Anthropology > African
Ethnic Studies > Africa
History > African

AIDS in Africa

This paper explores why Africa is one of the hardest hit areas in the worldwide AIDS epidemic.

2,285 words () | 11 sources | MLA | 2008 United States

Paper Summary:

This paper suggests that the prominence of HIV/AIDS in Africa may be explained by (1) the impoverished nature of Africa as a whole, which makes people more susceptible to infection, and (2) AIDS denialism, which makes people believe they are not at risk. The author points out that both of these factors can be connected to colonialism, which impoverished African countries and created a racist discourse of disease, and to neo-colonialism, which keeps African countries poor and is the target of AIDS denialism. The paper stresses that the only way to reduce AIDS in Africa is to deal with this legacy of colonialism and the current effects of neo-colonialism. The paper included many quotations.

From the Paper:

"Many researchers have argued that attempts to link HIV/AIDS
to Africa had a basis in racist philosophies. ... This argument would seem to indicate that arguments about the high prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Africa being caused by environmental conditions in Africa are part of a racist discourse. In essence it is the continuation of the argument that there is something mentally/morally deficient with African people that has transformed the entire continent into a source for disease. If the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Africa can't be explained by environmental conditions then how can this phenomenon be explained?"

Sample of Sources Used:

Burkhalter, Holly, "The Politics of AIDS" in Foreign Affairs, New York, Vol.83, Iss.1, Jan/Feb 2004: 8-13.
Cheru, Fantu and Gill, Stephen, "Structural Adjustment and the G-7: Limits and Contradictions" in Globalization, Democratization and Multilateralism, Stephen Gill (ed), St. Martin's Press, 1997: 141-169.
Cohen, Mitchell L., "Changing Patterns of Disease" in Nature, Vol.406, No.6797, 2000: 762-767.
Farmer, Paul, "Invisible Women: Class, Gender and HIV" in Infections and Inequalities, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1999: 59-93.
Farmer, Paul, "Rethinking "Emerging Infectious Diseases" in Infections and Inequalities, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1999: 37-58.