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=Political Impact of AIDS in Africa=

Although there has been little study of the political impact, AIDS has certainly impacted the politics and policies of African nations. Some African governments have responded well to AIDS, while others have responded poorly.

Poitical Successes
One example of a success story is Senegal, which emphasized early diagnosis, government funding going to fighting AIDS, mass media to eliminate social taboos, promotion of condom use, and universal access to anti-retroviral drugs (AIDS medicine). Some other governments, like Botswana, Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Zambia followed in Senegal's footsteps and decided that the cost for the drugs was worth the benefit from increased workforce. Some approaches other African governments have had success with include improving childhood education about AIDS, full universal health care, and teaching people through mass media. All of this spending is hard for these small African nations to keep up with so many times they will have to rely on other countries or private corporations for loans, putting them in debt to these countries.

Political Failures
For all of the successes African nations ave had with AIDS, there are failures. One such failure is South Africa, where President Thabo Mbeki denies that AIDS resulted from HIV until political pressure forced him to admit he was wrong. Many countries still have a social taboo about AIDS and don't discuss it due to their governments' lack of awareness programs.



Potential Political Impact
Some believe that eventually AIDS in Africa will become so widespread that it will affect African governments and armies and thus have grave political consequences, especially during a time of conflict. However, it seems that African armies and government leaders ave been able to cope with disease thus far.