1st Edition

International Politics of HIV/AIDS Global Disease-Local Pain

By Hakan Seckinelgin Copyright 2008
    206 Pages
    by Routledge

    208 Pages
    by Routledge

    This book examines the global governance of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, interrogating the role of this international system and global discourse on HIV/AIDS interventions. The geographical focus is Sub-Saharan Africa since the region has been at the forefront of these interventions. There is a need to understand the relationship between the international political environment and the impact of resulting policies on HIV/AIDS in the context of people’s lives.

    Hakan Seckinelgin points out a certain disjuncture between this governance structures and the way people experience the disease in their everyday lives. Although the structure allows people to emerge as policy relevant target groups and beneficiaries, the articulation of needs and design of policy interventions tends to reflect international priorities rather than people’s thinking on the problem. In other words, he argues that while the international interventions highlight the importance attributed to the HIV/AIDS problem, the nature of the system does not allow interventions to be far reaching and sustainable.

    Offering a critical contribution to the understanding of the problems in HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa, International Politics of HIV/AIDS will be invaluable to students and researchers of health, international politics and development.

    1. Governance of HIV/AIDS  1.1 Internationalization  1.2 'International Perspective'  1.3 Governance  1.4 Governance Context  2. Constructing Agency in the Time of an Epidemic  2.1 Institutionalization  2.2 Investigating the Institutionalization Mechanism Agency  2.3 NGOs and HIV/AIDS: A Question of Agency  2.4 Institutional Values I  2.5 Institutional Values II  2.6 Institutional Values III  2.7 Why Does this Matter?  2.8 Conclusion  3. Medicalization  3.1 Medicalization  3.2 Signs of Medicalization  3.3 A Magic Bullet: Treatment?  3.4 Research in Zambia  3.5 Implications and Questions  3.6 Magic Bullet Revisited  4. What do we Need to Know for HIV/AIDS Interventions in Africa?  4.1 How do we Think about This?  4.2 We Know What Works!  4.3 Tools:  4.4 Assumptions  4.5 People’s Experiences of our Knowledge  4.6 Social-Cultural Issues  4.7 Gender Issues  4.8 Socio-Economic Issues  4.9 Colliding Knowledge Domains  4.10 How do we Re-Think what we Know?  4.11 Implications of this Approach  4.12 Conclusion  5. Language as a Transformative Mechanism  5.1 Definitions and Actions  5.2 Civil Society-Definition or Description?  5.3 Civil Society-Description to Action?  5.4 Why does this Matter? 5.5 Conclusion: Time to Wake Up

    Biography

    Hakan Seckinelgin is a Lecturer in International Social Policy at the Department of Social Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science.  His research interests include international organizations, social policy, civil society and HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa.

    'This book provides a timely and highly engaging analysis of the crisis of HIV/AIDS and the politics of response. It will prove a valuable contribution to the ensuing debate about the role of global institutions in the struggle against the pandemic.' - Nana K. Poku, University of Bradford, UK

    'An eye opener on the actions and effects of international agencies some twenty years into the epidemic, this book is a 'must-read' volume for everyone working in the fields of international development and health.' - Peter Aggleton, University of London, UK