I didn’t see much coverage about the fact that it was World AIDS week, but there did seem to a spike in the amount of coverage. At any rate, due to a run in with one Sir Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury, the WFEI website launch (a global index for work, family and equity measures), and a trip today to our nation’s capital, my week was pretty much shot.

So here’s some interesting stuff this week:

Responsibility
I never thought I’d see this happen, but Jacob Zuma’s Health Minister, Dr. Aaron Motsoaledi, announced on November 13th that the AIDS denialism that permeated Mbeki’s government was responsible for a huge spike in deaths. How huge? From 2007 to 2008, deaths in South Africa increased by 182,654.
Article via Health-E News

Irresponsibility
Stephen Harper, and the leaders of the other G8 countries have failed to meet their commitments to
Read more about their failings via International AIDS Society

Work, Family and Equity Index
I’m a doctoral fellow at the McGill Institute for Health and Social Policy, and we like to do big data projects. Global policy stuff. Maps. We like the maps. So I’m pleased to announce that after much toiling, frustration and coffee, our team has launched the site in conjunction with Prof. Jody Heymann’s new book, Raising the Global Floor.

I left computer programming for a reason, and building this site reminded me why (it also reminded me why I used to love it so much, but we’ll downplay that part so I don’t have to do this again…). But I’m quite proud to be a part of a project that demonstrates that countries which provide things like sick leave, parental leave and other protections for workers are not economically penalized – in fact they tend to do better. All the data is now online, and I do hope that highlighting a country’s policies in relation to their peers helps to change these policies for the better.

WFEI Index

Fear
Uganda is revamping its prevention strategy in recognition of rising infection rates, in particular they are considering making the messaging more general and, to a certain extent, more frightening:

“We have to change the destiny of this country, even if it means putting back the drums of the 1980s that used to frighten people,” said UAC director-general, David Kihumuro Apuuli.

Current research suggests that this might not be a good idea. Fear leads to stigma, stigma is considered universally bad. However, stigma requires an established norm – if the norm is appropriate to HIV prevention, and the stigmatization occurs against those who are irresponsible about their sexual encounters, then this is a good thing. Some good political theory work on stigma has been done in this direction, and it’s worth taking seriously.
Article via PlusNews

Football
Next year’s World Cup in South Africa is an unprecedented opportunity to reach the public of not only South Africa, but a good chunk of the continent. I’m heartened to see that FIFA, civil society and government appear to be working together towards this. My only complaint is that this wasn’t done sooner.

This has also eased fears of mine that the South African government would downplay or ignore the epidemic, at the detriment of everyone. Given South Africa’s (overblown, on my experience) reputation for crime, mix in an HIV epidemic, and all of a sudden you have a real fear that tourists will stay home. Kudos to the government for tackling this head on.
Article via PlusNews