The Socio-Political Cost of AIDS - Research Paper Example

THE SOCIO-POLITICAL COST OF AIDS and number> The Socio-Political Cost of AIDS Opening ment, Assumptions or Hypothesis It is the position of this study to prove that the AIDS issue has gone far beyond being a medical problem, as it has entered into the socio-cultural and political aspects of international relations. The discussion begins with a presentation of the various theories of the source of AIDS, and to link this to the culture of blame that has grown about the AIDS issue. The discussion will lead to a set of recommendations by which the socio-cultural and political implications of the AIDS problem may be better addressed through concerted action. Discussion of findings The earliest recognized incidences of AIDS in the United States occurred in the early 1980s, beginning with the gay community. In New York and California a number of men developed infections and cancers that resisted all known methods of treatment. The Human Immunodeficiency Virus was discovered soon after. (AVERT, 2009) However, while HIV was recognized only in the 1980s, there were several samples which, having only been recently analyzed, pre-dated this discovery. The samples, dated at the time they were taken, are as follows: 1. Dated 1959: Plasma sample, adult male from (the presently denominated) Democratic Republic of the Congo. The analysis here suggests the earliest known infection to have occurred in the 1940s or early 1950s. (Zhu, Tuofu, Korber & Nahinias, 1998) 2. Dated 1960: Lymph node sample, adult female, also from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Worobev et al., 2008) 3. Dated 1969: Tissue samples, American teenager from St. Louis (Kolata, 1987) 4. Dated 1976: Tissue samples, Norwegian sailor (Froland, 1988) HIV is a lentivirus that attacks the immune system. The word “lentivirus” means “slow virus” because of the length of time it takes for the disease to manifest its ill effects on the human body. They are part of the larger classification of viruses known as retroviruses. Lentiviruses are found in many species of animals, but the one closest to the HIV is the Simian Immunodeficiency Virus (SIV), a strain that affects monkeys. It is accepted by a large number of experts that the HIV descended from the SIV because some strains of SIV appear closely similar to the two strains of HIV, the HIV-1 and HIV-2. The less virulent of these strains, the HIV-2, corresponds to a strain of SIV that is found in a species of monkey indigenous to western Africa, the sooty mangabey or white-collared monkey. The origins of the HIV-1 was more difficult to trace, but in 1990 a group of scientists found evidence that linked this strain to a sub-species of chimpanzees that inhabited mostly west-central Africa. (AVERT, 2009) The Hunter Theory. Viral transfer can occur between species; when the transfer occurs between animals and humans, a “zoonosis” is said to have taken place. In the case of the HIV, there are several theories that explain how the zoonosis occurred. Probably the most commonly accepted theory is the “Hunter Theory”. It is said that it is possible that the hunters of chimpanzees were bitten or their cuts and bruises were smeared with the chimps’ blood, or that as is the custom in some areas, the chimpanzees may have been butchered and eaten. This is not too farfetched. In a recent study by Wolfe, Switzer & Carr (2004), a sample of 1099 individuals in Cameroon showed ten individuals (one percent) to be infected with the Simian Foamy Virus, or SFV, a disease previously thought to infect only primates. The Oral Polio Vaccine Theory (OPV). This controversial theory proposed that HIV was transferred through medical interventions, particularly through polio vaccines. This theory posited in the book “The River” where author and journalist Edward Hooper made the suggestion that HIV may have originated during the testing of the oral polio vaccine Chat, which was administered to some one million people in the Belgian Congo, Urundi and Ruanda during the 1950s. When the live polio viruses were cultivated in living tissue to produce the vaccine, Hooper believed that Chat was grown in kidney cells of local chimps infected with the SIV strain. This would have contaminated the vaccine and, in turn, the one million or so recipients of the vaccine. (AVERT, 2009) The Contaminated Needle Theory. An extension of the OPV theory, this theory attributed the contamination to the use of syringes to inject multiple patients per one syringe, without undergoing sterilization, due to the lack of supplies for inoculation. The Colonialism Theory. First proposed in 2000, this is one of the recent, controversial, theories to have emerged; it was eventually given the monicker “Heart of Darkness Theory”. Its proponent, Jim Moore, studied primate behaviour, and he theorized that much like the hunter and vaccine theories, Africans could have eaten chimps infected by SIV and been infected by unsterilized needles during inoculation sessions. However, his setting was the late 19h and early 20th century, at a time when Africa was for the most part under harsh colonial rule. There was little food, physical demands were tremendous, and the health of workers in labour camps was poor. Besides these, HIV could have been transmitted by prostitutes who have been recruited to service the workers in the camps and keep them happy. In such a place, it was possible for AIDS to proliferate because the inhabitants of the labour camps were disease-ridden and death was common, wiping out some 50% of the population. The Conspiracy Theory. Moving onto more controversial speculation, the conspiracy theory was the first that proposed the possibility that the HIV was man-made. A survey revealed that a significant number of African-Americans are convinced that HIV was concocted as a part of biological warfare that targeted black and homosexual persons. (Fears, 2005) The theory goes that the US Federal “Special Cancer Virus Program” (SCVP) was the agency responsible, in collaboration with the CIA. Intentionally or accidentally, the virus was said to have been spread through either the smallpox inoculation program or the Hepatitis B vaccine trials. There is little factual data to back up this theory; unfortunately, it has also not been disproved until the present. The Socio-Political Implications of AIDS In the report of the GAO (2001) to the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Joseph A.Christoff, Director for International Affairs and Trade, made the bold prediction that within the next 10 years, one-quarter of the populations of the countries hardest hit by the AIDS epidemic will have died by 2011. “Further, given the scale of the epidemic, AIDS has grown beyond a public health problem to become a humanitarian and developmental crisis… likely to aggravate and in some cases provoke economic decline, social fragmentation, and political destabilization.” Due to its far reaching consequences, the AIDS epidemic has necessitated the concerted and integrated effort of nations, in order to stave off the threat to global stability. Sen (2000) argued that democracy, despite its imperfections, has the advantage of effective popular compulsion exerted upon its government to address the people’s problems. He observes that famines do not occur in democracies, whereas starvation often occurs in dictatorships because the government is not fearful of any political consequences of a popular backlash. Boone and Batsell (2001) used this observation in analysing the role of political frameworks in the manner four African countries conducted their AIDS control programs. They contrasted the approaches of political leaders of Uganda and Senegal with those of Kenya and Zimbabwe. In terms of economic and bureaucratic development, Kenya and Zimbabwe are best-endowed, while Senegal is among the poorest African countries, and Uganda had been plagued with civil war and disorder since it emerged from its colonial past. It is thus a wonder why Senegal and Uganda lead at the forefront of Africa’s fight against AIDS, while relatively resource-rich Kenya and Zimbabwe have the worst performance in this aspect. The regime types lend a clue, as per Sen’s argument on the political consequences of democracy. Senegal and Uganda, democratic countries, sought to cultivate broad acceptance and grassroots participation in the AIDS program. On the other hand, Kenya’s and Zimbabwe’s political systems are relatively more “intransigent, closed, and bureaucratically entrenched regimes”, two of the most politically autocratic systems in the continent. De Waal (2006) disagrees with the point of view that political systems make a difference in the manner African countries had addressed the AIDS problem. De Waal is not convinced that the response of the African countries, given the severity of the epidemic and the terrifying catastrophic scale of its consequences, has elicited a response from political leaders that would indicate that they comprehended the magnitude of the problem. Because of the lack of political will and the socially sensitive nature of the disease, citizens’ denial has also facilitated its progress unchecked. De Waal notes, African governments have not been held accountable for their countries’ floundering health programs, and may even derive some benefit from the form of foreign financial aid that flow in to address their failures in this regard. Patterson (2006), on the other hand, takes a stance diametrically opposed to Boone and Batsell. To drive home the point, she points to South Africa, with its strong institutions, free press, and large middle class. She compares this with “poor, authoritarian Uganda, still brutalized by civil war” as having produced “one of the more effective AIDS campaigns on the continent.” Patterson makes a great deal of political leadership, crediting the biggest difference between countries as commensurate to the extent that their chief executives are willing to communicate openly about the disease. Other than political destabilization, there is also the social dislocation of those affected. The normal reaction of self-preservation is distorted, in then case of AIDS, to the point that the community demonizes those it blames for the epidemic – usually the victims themselves. In one case it has led to the breakdown of social institutions. In 1997, in Jamestown in upstate New York, several young women tested positive for HIV. They had a common sexual contact, a young African-American male from Brooklyn named Nushawn Williams. The high court, in breach of New York’s HIV confidentiality law, authorized the publication of William’s identity; after that, he became the focus of great animosity by the media, who called him a “monster”, “maggot”, and “bogeyman incarnate” among others. His vilification included stories that he had “hundreds of partners,” “preyed on schoolgirls,” and “shot a number of people with a different kind of bullet.” (Alcabes, 2006) This propensity to fix blame has even run interference with the highly critical medical and scientific investigation into the origins and progress of the disease. Clinical investigation is crucial in the race to find a cure for this disease; however, findings intended as impartial and factual information is immediately colored by the public compulsion to attribute blame. The theories of the origin of AIDS exemplifies this: scientific evidence traces the progress of the disease to the SIV prevalent among primates located solely in West Africa. However, what should be viewed as a statement of fact is at once attributed racial overtones. African, and African American, groups as well as gay communities protest loudly that the so-called findings are attempts to malign their members, and in turn reply with the so-far unfounded theory that the AIDS virus is a man-made tool by which their numbers are to be decimated by the establishment. While best seen as irritants, these exchange of accusations manifest the potential social rift, the “fragmentation” mentioned by the GAO in its report. At a time when AIDS poses its most serious challenge and thus must be met with a united effort, the stigma associated with the disease hampers genuine concerted efforts at finding an effective solution. Recommendation Comprehending the breadth and scope of the AIDS problem is a difficult task, because it brings into focus deep seated beliefs and cultural biases among nations and races. It has become a political and social problem because of the stigma attached to the disease. The issues are divisive and contentious. The way to address this at its core, therefore, is through education, primarily among the young, and as far as still is possible, with the mature members of society. The rapid spread of the disease required a united front, and unity can only be achieved through a long-term program to disseminate the facts of AIDS early enough to pre-empt or dispel social biases and prejudices. There is not easy solution, and there is no option not to undertake a solution. What can be done in the near term may be for political and social leaders among countries to continue dialoguing with each other. This may be a tedious process, but it is hoped that the urgency of the situation will eventually impress upon the more recalcitrant of the global leaders. Conclusion/Summary On summary, theories on the origins of AIDS tread both scientific and speculative paths. Science shows that the most likely origin of the HIV is that is has mutated from the SIV of lower primates. That these are located in Africa is an accidental, but the fact is ascribed prejudicial overtones for which is countered the speculative origins of AIDS (i.e., the conspiracy theory). The fractious nature of AIDS dilemma must first be conquered before a real solution to the medical challenge of the disease may be found. REFERENCES Alcabes, Philip. “Heart of Darkness: AIDS, Africa, and Race.” Virginia Quarterly Review, Vol. 82 Issue 1, p4-9, Winter 2006. AIDS & HIV Information. AVERT.org. 30 July 2009. 1 August 2009. Boone, Catherine & Batsell, Jake. “Politics and AIDS in Africa: Research Agendas in Political Science and International Relations”. Africa Today, vol. 48 issue 2, Summer 2001 Crum, Janet A. “The Invisible Cure: AIDS in Africa” Library Journal, vol. 132 issue 7, p110-110, 4/15/2007 De Waal, Alex. AIDS and Power: Why There Is No Political Crisis--Yet. Zed Books, 2006 Fears, Darryl. 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