- Author
- Bor, Jacob
- Title
- The Political Economy of AIDS Leadership in Developing Countries: An Exploratory Analysis
- In
- GAIN Brief 7
- Editor
- Justice Africa
- Imprint
- December 2005, 30 pp
- Url
- http://www.justiceafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2006/06 /Bor_PoliticalEconomyofAIDSLeadership.pdf
- Abstract
"The commitment of high-level government leaders is widely recognized as a key factor in curbing national AIDS epidemics. But where does such leadership come from? This paper presents a quantitative analysis of the determinants of AIDS leadership in 54 developing countries, using the 2003 AIDS Program Effort Index "political support" score as an indicator of political commitment. Explanatory variables measure aspects of political institutions and economic development and integration. Models developed in the analysis explain over half of the variation in commitment across the countries in the sample. In particular, press freedoms, income inequality, and HIV prevalence stand out as determinants of political commitment. The health of populations is influenced not only by social contexts, but by political institutions as well. HIV/AIDS is no exception. From the beginnings of the global epidemic, AIDS was recognized as a political crisis with a political solution... Evidence from a handful of developing countries - Uganda, Senegal, Thailand, and Brazil - suggests that well-informed interventions on the part of national governments can significantly reduce the spread of HIV, prolong the lives of those infected, and mitigate its impact on society at large. The factor most frequently cited as crucial to these "success stories" is the presence of strong political leadership...Still, political commitment to confront AIDS in developing countries remains tragically uneven and on the whole inadequate. Why have the leaders of some countries made AIDS a national priority while others have all but ignored the epidemic?"