| | This issue of the Review is devoted to an examination of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa, an emergency which compromises the future of so many on the continent, yet is persistently underplayed. The depth of need it has generated has scarcely been measured and not even begun to be met. Although increasingly acknowledged to be grounded in social behaviour and systemic inequalities, HIV/AIDS is still treated predominantly as a health problem. At the same time, far more attention continues to be paid to the (admittedly crucial) issues of prevention and care than to the economic and social impact of AIDS and the ways it can be addressed and mitigated.
This introduction to the issue expands upon general points made in the editorial and reviews some of these issues by exploring two aspects of the multi-layered context of the AIDS epidemic: The question of what African governments should and can do in the face of AIDS, and The viability and potential of the International Partnership on AIDS in Africa. |
