Review of Anton A. Niekerk and Loretta M. Kopelman (eds.) Ethics and AIDS in Africa: The Challenge to our Thinking

Ethics, AIDS, and Africa – three concepts that conjure up a host of powerful associations. Ethics: our fragile human attempts to negotiate acceptable paths through conflicts of value. AIDS: the world's deadliest epidemic since the Black Plague of the 14th century. And Africa: cradle of humankind, burdened by colonization, famine, poverty and civil war. In what ways do ethics, AIDS and Africa go together, and how is our thinking challenged by their relationship? Editors Van Niekerk and Kopelman have assembled an impressive list of well-respected authors to deal with this question. Their contributions focus on the impact of AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa and take on some of the key ethical issues raised by HIV/AIDS research, policy and clinical practice in the region. Although rich in details, it is fair to say that four general themes dominate this book: the ethical role of national governments in tackling the AIDS epidemic, with special focus on the South African case; the epidemic and responses to it as reflections of global inequity; the ethical responsibilities of pharmaceutical companies in the struggle against HIV/AIDS, and the dilemmas involved in HIV prevention research, particularly in vaccine studies