Briefing: Recent changes in the South African government's HIV/Aids policy and its implementation

Abstract

Since 2002 there has been a shift in the South African government's policy response to HIV/AIDS, culminating in a commitment by the Cabinet in August 2003 to develop a plan to provide antiretroviral (ARV) drugs. While this shift in policy was greeted warmly, if cautiously, by most analysts and activists,we need to understand why it has occurred, in order to assess its sustainability and whether it will translate into meaningful change on the ground. As a civil society submission to the government noted: ‘The success and sustainability of an ARV roll-out programme depends on a number of interlocking social, medical and political factors.’1 This briefing provides an outline of the government's AIDS policies, recent policy shifts, the social and political factors at play and some explanations for these shifts.