Health System Strengthening More Effective Than "AIDS-Centric Approach"

For years, AIDS advocates "convinced the world that AIDS was an exceptional disease that posed an existential threat all over the world, and therefore demanded an exceptional response," but it is "increasingly clear that the leaders of the AIDS industry have not been good custodians of this largesse," Philip Stevens, research director of the International Policy Network, writes in a BusinessDay opinion piece.

"It is now clear AIDS is not the global 'emergency' claimed by the AIDS lobby," yet the disease "still receives a quarter of all health aid, despite accounting for less than 4 percent of developing country deaths," Stevens writes. Donors are starting to see that an "AIDS-centric approach to spending is not an effective way of improving health in poor countries, which is better done by strengthening overall primary care," he writes, adding that "strengthening health systems should henceforth be the priority." Donors should not let the HIV/AIDS lobby's "vituperative rhetoric derail them as they strive to improve health for everyone, not just a few," Stevens concludes (7/29).

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