AIDS in Africa : How the Poor Are Dying

Across Africa, HIV/AIDS is slowly killing millions of people in the prime of their lives, weakening state-structures, deepening poverty and reversing the gains in life expectancy achieved over the past century. Although many who study the dynamics of Africa´s AIDS crisis accept that, to some degree, its entrenchment is a socially produced phenomenon, few have examined the contributions of the continent´s ubiquitous poverty, the impact of the pervasive Structural Adjustment Programmes or Africa´s marginalization in the process of globalization, on the course and intensity of the epidemic - until now. This book explores the socio-economic context of Africa´s vulnerability to HIV/AIDS as well as assessing the politics of domestic and global response. Using primary and secondary data, the book charts the power relations driving Africa´s HIV/AIDS epidemic, frustrating the possibility of alleviation and recovery as well as working to relegate the continent to a bleak and vulnerable future.In this sense, this book marks a radical departure by providing a comprehensive analysis of Africa´s vulnerability to AIDS and the challenges confronting policy makers as they seek to reverse the escalating prevalence of AIDS on the continent. The volume will be of immense value to all those interested in Africa´s socio-political and economic development. It will be essential reading for students of comparative politics, international relations, and globalization