~ HIV/AIDS in Southern Africa
~ Effects of poverty in Africa
~ Effects of structural adjustment in Africa
~ Swaziland
70% of the world's HIV infections occur in sub-Saharan Africa. Swaziland, for example, has the highest HIV infection rate in the world. As many as 1 in every 2 young people has the virus. Why has this happened? The reasons are complex and may challenge western assumptions.
CULTURE TO BLAME? Many commentators have put the blame on low condom-use, some even say that Africans are more sexually promiscuous by nature than people in the developed world. Others point to a culture of denial regarding AIDS. Therefore the main solutions put forward have been awareness campaigns geared towards encouraging behaviour change. But is this the point?
OR IS IT STRUCTURAL? Other experts argue that the causes come down to poverty. They point to labour migration in men and pressures for transactional sex in women, brought about by economic policies forced on Swaziland by international finance, with the cooperation of local elites, including the Swazi King, the last absolute monarch in Africa.
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