The tragedy of the premature consensus on HIV/AIDS and the impact to the South African economy

It has become accepted wisdom that the world faces the most deadly threat to human survival with the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Twenty-two years later we still have not found a cure and there are no agreements on the way forward. Is it possible that we are looking at the wrong cause or has humanity finally reached its demise? Thus not surprising as HIV and AIDS poses a real challenge to human kind and the science community as a whole. In the West HIV infection is still contained within its original risk group. However, Africa, Asia and South America pose a different challenge as the risk group is primarily made up of heterosexual individuals, as Professor Eileen Stillwagon noted, “taking a swipe at those who blame sexual behaviour for the rampant HIV epidemic in Southern Africa are still caught up in exotic notions about Africans”. Differences in sexual behaviour cannot explain the 100 fold variations in HIV prevalence in the world. However, Global HIV/AIDS policy in the world still relies almost exclusively on behavioural interventions, abstinence and condoms as means of intervention. President Thabo Mbeki has been the most vocal proponent for poverty to be put on the global HIV/AIDS, thus condemning Western notions regarding Africans sexuality. The inescapable conclusion being made is that HIV is being sustained by sexual networking and, for whatever reasons, poverty stricken black South Africans seem to be the most uninhibited and most promiscuous sexual networkers in the world, compared to other races thus explaining the highest prevalence is a mistake. At present the Global strategy where HIV/AIDS is concerned has not been successful, especially in Sub- Saharan Africa where prevention has been the primary focus and later treatment using allopathic medicine. Thus the one size fits all approach in dealing with the pandemic is a mistake. Hence South Africa’s STIs, especially syphilis, is on the decline yet new HIV infections are said to be on the rise. This is contrary to the West, especially in The United States of America. Chlamydia and genital herpes are as high as 30 -40% yet there is no HIV infection. HIV and AIDS in Africa need to be addressed with an African strategy as it clear that Africa/South Africa is faced with a unique challenge compared to the West. The fact is that though there have been discussions that South Africa faces a doomsday scenario, not all researchers conclude that HIV/AIDS is having a major impact on South Africa's overall economy. Nevertheless, the general consensus is that by undermining health and the development of human capital, HIV/AIDS will increasingly undermine the foundations of human and economic development. The details of this impact are, however, as yet poorly understood. What is known is that individuals in the prime of their lives, especially young women in child-bearing age groups are at the greatest risk of being infected with the HI-virus. AIDS related illness and death often stand at the centre of a complex web of interrelated knock-on effects with implications for the well-being of individuals, households, economies and the state. It re-examines the most important potential impacts on the South African economy by reviewing current research and concludes that more than two decades after HIV was co-discovered by Drs Luc Montagnier and Robert Gallo as the sole and sufficient cause of AIDS, consequences are only now beginning to be appreciated. But the precise nature of these consequences has yet to be determined with precision. This study concludes that South Africa is uniquely positioned to define these consequences and impacts. With what is acknowledged worldwide as the most comprehensive plan for the treatment, care and prevention of HIV and AIDS; the largest roll-out of antiretrovirals in the world, backed by health care policies that encompass nutritional support, traditional medical approaches and the promotion of healthy lifestyles; as well as a government that remains focussed on poverty alleviation, South Africa is well positioned to play a decisive role in the battle against AIDS. A more focused approach is therefore needed to study the fundamental causes of the rapid spread of HIV and AIDS in African countries especially South Africa is needed.Professor L. Greylin