Ethics and AIDS in Africa : The Challenge to Our Thinking

Africa poses daunting medical, social, and economic challenges, placing local, regional, national, and international communities at a moral crossroads. This book, the first to systematically examine the ethical implications of the AIDS pandemic for Africa, examines such pressing questions as: How do we deal with the uncertainties surrounding AIDS statistics? Is it really too costly to provide people highly active antiretroviral therapies in Africa? What is the relationship between AIDS and poverty? Is the political leadership in South Africa doing what is right and prudent to meet the challenge of AIDS? Is the developed world responding responsibly and justly to this crisis in the developing world? Is it moral for companies to make profits from AIDS drugs? Given the scope of the crisis, ought First World ethical standards for doing research on AIDS drugs and vaccines to apply unchanged to Africa? Ought we to include children in research for AIDS vaccines, and if so, how? Why do people persist in regarding AIDS as punishment for sin?