| | The social history of AIDS in the Mobutu era provides a window through which to view the consequences of gender and class inequality. Official and popular responses to this epidemic of fatal sexually transmitted disease reveal the interplay of structure and agency, political economy and culture. While the present crisis of the state and civil war in eastern DRC have pushed gender issues off the political agenda, the prevalence of sexual violence, and consequently, increased levels of HIV and AIDS, makes gender relations central to peace and development. |
