US Foreign Aid and the African AIDS epidemic

Abstract

U.S. foreign aid has been crucial to the international AIDS response, especially to the rollout of antiretrovirals (ARVs) in Africa. The unprecedented scale of funding that has been raised to combat this disease evolved out of fears that AIDS was a both a humanitarian disaster and a threat to international security and economic development. U.S. commitment to fighting AIDS in Africa has traditionally been, and still is, buoyed by bi-partisan support. This support has remained strong post-2007. Even so, the view is widespread that African country governments ought to take greater ownership of combating the problem and reducing aid dependency in managing it. One of the most effective interventions the United States could make to this end would be to ensure that trade negotiations facilitate, rather than impede, the supply of affordable ARVs for developing countries. Boosting U.S. development assistance to the international target of 0.7% of national income would also help.