title: AIDS policy responsiveness in Africa: evidence from opinion surveys.
abstract: As a result of massive scale-up efforts in developing countries, millions of people living with HIV are now receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART). However, countries have been uneven in their scale-up efforts with ART coverage rates exceeding expectations in some places and lagging behind expectation in others. This paper develops a model that explains ART scale-up as a function of the responsiveness of political parties to their primary constituents. Specifically, the paper argues that, faced with a perilous 'threat to the nation', countries responded in one of two ways, both of which were designed to appeal to their primary constituents--either adopting a 'Geneva Consensus' response, or depicting the epidemic as a Western disease and adopting a 'pan-African' response. The article tests this theory using Afrobarometer data for eleven countries. The paper finds that HIV/AIDS is generally a non-partisan issue in most countries. However, the analysis does uncover some differences in partisan support for HIV/AIDS responses in both countries that have adopted Geneva Consensus and pan-African responses, though not in the direction hypothesised. The lack of congruence in policy preferences between the public and their governments suggests a democratic deficit in that these governments have acted independently of the preferences of core constituents.
authors: a Department of Health Evidence and Policy , Mount Sinai School of Medicine , New York , NY , USA.
authors: Ashley M
authors: AM
authors: Fox
mesh_terms: D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000188:drug therapy*; D000349:Africa; D005378:Financial Support; D006076:Government; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006291:Health Policy; D006801:Humans; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011050:Policy Making; D011639:Public Opinion