非洲風情：南非愛滋病危機的啟示
- 2021年12月30日
- 讀畢需時 2 分鐘
已更新：2024年3月30日
即使部分非洲國家改革成民主社會，都不代表人民的福利受到保障。南非的塔博・姆貝基在1999年當選總統。然而解決愛滋病危機不力，則削弱其政權的認受性。
殖民時期，濫交被視為愛滋病的主因。部分本土宗教更視為愛滋病一種病毒，用來懲罰犯下惡行的人們。結果病毒在坊間廣泛傳播，數十年間未得到正視。
姆貝基不但質疑愛滋病毒是愛滋病的成因，更禁止人民以西藥治療。由於公立醫院未獲授權使用相關藥物，造成35萬人死亡。2000年，近兩成的成年人感染愛滋病。
愛滋病防治行動期後向法院上訴，成功推翻相關禁令。2007年，這場危機促使雅各布・祖馬非洲民族議會上擊敗姆貝基。事實證明再民主的政體，社會保障也取決於開明的當權者。
Lesson from the Health Crisis in South Africa
Even though it is a democratic regime, it does not guarantee a better public service. In 1999, Thabo Mbeki succeeded Nelson Mandela as the South African president. However, the inappropriate treatment of HIV/AIDS weakened the regime’s credibility.
Mbeki not only doubted that HIV was the cause of AIDS, he also rejected the Western medicine as the antidote to the health crisis. Due to the prohibition of antiretroviral drugs in state hospitals, it caused 350,000 deaths. Around 20% of adults contracted HIV by 2000.
Under the apartheid government, HIV/AIDS was considered as a “black disease” due to sexual promiscuity. For the Indigenous people, it was regarded as a punishment for immoral behavior cursed by evil spirits. The disease therefore spread for decades.
The Treatment Action Campaign managed to appeal to the courts and reversed Mbeki’s policy in 2001. Jacob Zuma even defeated Mbeki at the ANC national conference in 2007. This crisis proved the possibility of an open regime with detrimental welfare of citizens.
名稱：非洲民主：成功、失敗與政治改革的鬥爭 (暫譯) (Democracy in Africa: Successes, Failures, and the Struggle for Political Reform)
作者：Nic Cheeseman
年份：2015
出版地：美國
出版社：劍橋大學出版社
類別：非洲政治
評分：7/10
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