Aids drugs are expensive, but life is far more valuable - and for less that two percent of the gross national product, South Africa can bring hope and life to many.
This is the view of Nicoli Nattrass, professor of economics and director of the Centre for Social Science Research at the University of Cape Town, who has been researching the economy and Aids.
Her book, The Moral Economy of Aids in South Africa, was released before World Aids Day next week. It also comes at a time when the government has agreed in principle to treatment for HIV and Aids sufferers.
Continues Below ↓
Nattrass said the term "moral economics" was used because "Aids is far more than an economic problem. The way that it is addressed cuts to the heart of what it means to be a society".
'Aids is far more than an economic problem' In her 224-page research, Nattrass looks at South Africa's contentious Aids policy from an economic and ethical perspective.
It addresses the history, the macro-economic effect, the relationship of Aids and poverty, the effect of a preventive programme of mother-to-child transmission, the relationship between treatment and risky sexual behaviour, and an economic and social case for expanded Aids prevention and treatment intervention.
Nattrass dedicated her work to "all the those children who were born HIV-positive because the government said it could not afford to prevent mother-to-child transmission".
It is also for the doctors, nurses and families who watched in anger and helplessness as more resources were spent coping with Aids-related illnesses than were needed to avoid them in the first place.
Nattrass said the shocking facts surrounding the pandemic in South Africa were well known. It was a major public health crisis that threatened economic development and social solidarity.
It was home to more HIV-positive people than any other country in the world.
Continues...
|
StumbleUpon
Reddit
Digg
Delicious
Newsvine
Facebook
muti
Twitter
