| Summary |
This paper discusses a set of complex, inter-connecting issues related to the moral imperative to increase access to HIV care and treatment in southern Africa, with a particular focus on antiretroviral therapy (ART). However, it does this with an equity lens. An equity lens seeks not just to look at improving access to care and treatment for the millions of people who currently lack it, but rather seeks to reduce the gap in access to health resources between different population groups. Underlying this view is an explicit argument that the current inequities in access to treatment are related to differentials in power and political influence between different population groups over the manner in which resources for accessing care and treatment are distributed. It is argued in the paper that an equity-oriented approach is necessary not only from a moral and humanitarian perspective but also for public health reasons. Unless attention is paid to the redistribution of available resources and to the relative and absolute levels of disempowerment amongst individuals, communities and countries, we run the risk of failing to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and the targets that have been set for increasing access to ART. The Southern African Regional Network for Equity in Health (EQUINET) and Oxfam (GB), in cooperation with IDRC and DfID, have commissioned a series of technical papers on equity in health sector responses to HIV/AIDS in southern Africa. The programme, initiated in February 2003, aims to identify policy issues and options to strengthen equity in health sector responses to AIDS. A regional workshop and review panel identified the key areas for analysis at country and regional level. In line with this framework, EQUINET and Oxfam have commissioned a series of country studies from four countries in southern Africa plus theme papers on HIV/AIDS equity issues in relation to health personnel, to food security and nutrition and gender equity. This paper explores the regional dimensions of equity in health sector responses to AIDS, drawing on the country and theme papers. |
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| Publication Webpage |
http://www.equinetafrica.org/policy.html |
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