Why has South Africa been so dilatory in its response to HIV / AIDS? Patrick Bond, research professor of political economy in the University of KwaZulu-Natal School of Development Studies, notes in a recent book that
In even relatively prosperous South Africa, an early death for millions was the outcome of state and employer reaction to the AIDS epidemic, with cost-benefit analyses demonstrating conclusively that keeping most of the country’s five to six million HIV-positive people alive through patented medicines cost more than the people were ‘worth’.
(Bond, 2006, p.8)
He cites, in illustration, an internal study by the vast Johannesburg/London conglomerate Anglo American Corporation, reported by the Financial Times, which determined that
the cut-off for saving workers in 2001 was 12 per cent. The lowest-paid 88 per cent of employees were more cheaply dismissed once unable to work, with replacements found among South Africa’s 42 per cent unemployed reserve army of labour.
(Bond, 2006, p.10, footnote 13)
Think health … think politics … think money.
References
Bond, P. (2006). Looting Africa: The Economics of Exploitation. Pietermaritzburg: University of KwaZulu-Natal Press. ISBN: 1869140958. [Amazon]
Convert this post to PDF