The Politics of Global Governance of HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Case of Gender

Abstract

There has emerged a consensus around the world that HIV/AIDS should be highlighted as a serious global problem. It is seen as a humanitarian, development and global security issue. Regardless of perceiving HIV/AIDS as a humanitarian, development or global security issue, our common consciousness of HIV/AIDS is related to two different aspects: to its occurrence in multiple countries and to the international policy context. Thus what is global about HIV/AIDS is not only the magnitude of the problem but also the approved response to the problem.

The approved global response to HIV/AIDS is organized through a global governance regime. This regime consists of many multilateral and bilateral organizations, programs and funds which constitute a complex system. As a result of setting the HIV/AIDS on the global policy agenda, especially African states have had to adopt a multisectoral approach to their epidemics. Within the multisectoral approach there are different actors working against HIV/AIDS in cooperation. Consequence of the multisectoral approach is that the national level is bypassed and the global level is in direct contact with the local level.

Despite the direct contact of global and local levels, Africans can very seldom get their voices heard within the global level. Due to this the practices of global governance and the experiences of Africans do not always correspond. This has made many projects that address HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa ineffective in tackling HIV/AIDS, but not ineffective in establishing authority. The research will address this disjunction and shed light on the effects of the global governance of sub-Saharan HIV/AIDS. Theoretically and methodologically the research is based on the analytics of government approach, which emanates from the work of Michel Foucault, although the research also contains methodological decisions that are based on the criticism of this approach.

More specifically, the research addresses the global governance of sub-Saharan HIV/AIDS through the case of gender. This is because, even though homogenous and universal gender inequality is frequently rendered at the heart of Sub-Saharan HIV/AIDS, there has been vast work done by a bunch of researchers who emphasize the heterogeneity and dynamism of sexual and gender relations in Africa. Hence, it is only by through simplification that sub-Saharan HIV/AIDS can be made governable through gender. Furthermore, this governance is only practiced within specific limits. If these limits are violated promotion of gender equality is forgotten and authoritarian practices are put into action. This is especially salient when the global governance of sub-Saharan HIV/AIDS is examined through its collision with the management of migration. From these perspectives it is possible to view the gender-based governance of HIV/AIDS as a political struggle.

According to the research, the contemporary global governance of sub-Saharan HIV/AIDS is unlikely to solve the health crisis, but it helps to keep sub-Saharan Africa governable. In addition, the governance can be harmful to traditional ways, customs and habits. Thus the governance is suitable for managing risks of contemporary world order, but at the cost of discrimination. However, this scenario is not inevitable as there are some possibilities for resistance.