Popular Responses To Hiv/aids And Policy

This article examines the way in which the Mbeki government in South Africa has proceeded in its policy-making on HIV/AIDS and some of the ways in which people have responded to the epidemic. The protracted tussle between the state and civil society in the form of the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) over the terms of engagement for treating the disease has marred South Africa's engagement with HIV/AIDS. The President's embrace of dissident science and his more recent silence on the AIDS issue have contributed to the creation of a climate of suspicion and mistrust. While government has conceded to specific demands of civil society, disagreements remain with organisations such as the Rath Foundation having entered the foray, seemingly with the state's nod of approval and clearly determined to tarnish the reputation of the TAC and subvert the gains made in anti-retroviral treatment. In this context of polarisation, ordinary people have responded by adapting some common ways of thinking and behaving to deal with the exigency of an epidemic that is now impacting on all facets of their lives. Not all popular responses to AIDS, however, resonate with universal principles of human rights. Some are clearly retrogressive and others destructive in their effects. The idea that strategic responses by all sectors of society should help to promote a sense of inclusion and a human rights culture, is the central argument of this article. Ultimately it may not be the gap between policy and implementation that presents the most formidable challenge to South Africa's fight against AIDS and the future of the democratic state, but rather the growing gap between government and an increasingly ill and estranged populace.