Buckling: the impact of AIDS in South Africa 2005

Changes in understanding of AIDS needed to devise adequate response

This publication, from the Centre for the Study of AIDS, reviews a large volume of research evidence focused on the social, political and economic impacts of AIDS in South Africa. The author argues that there is a need for a more rigorous picture of the epidemic’s impact and how it interacts with specific aspects of society. Chapter One considers the epidemic in a wider historical and ideological context. Chapter Two surveys the epidemiological evidence and Chapter Three examines and critiques conventional AIDS narratives on households, orphans and home-based care. Chapter Four explores the popular images of society impact and offers an alternative analysis of AIDS in South Africa.

The author outlines how conventional conceptions of AIDS tend to reflect an emphasis on economic growth, governance and security. Many accounts of HIV and AIDS are misdirected as they ignore the distribution of risk and responsibility in society and avoid the interplay of the epidemic with the dynamics of the distribution of power, resources and entitlements. Consequently, they ignore how the impact of the epidemic is concentrated among the least-privileged sections of society, causing even harsher polarisation between social groups. The author argues that a common understanding of the epidemic’s impact and the kinds of strategies that contain and repair the damage must be revised. [adapted from author]

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Buckling: the impact of AIDS in South Africa 2005