Aid for AIDS : the policies and performance of PEPFAR in Uganda

Abstract

Today, despite the vast resources given to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS in Uganda, the national prevalence continues to grow. The U.S. developed the President's Emergency Plan for HIV/AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) as a response to the insufficient global effort to halt the spread of HIV/AIDS internationally. PEPFAR has tied foreign aid to an HIV/AIDS agenda that is based on politics and religion, not on evidence. By promoting an abstinence-only approach to HIV/AIDS education and limiting international funding to only organizations that agree to restrict sexual health access for many people, including sex workers. This thesis is about understanding the complex relationship between aid donors and recipients when evidence, politics and religion clash. I conclude this thesis by finding that HIV/AIDS campaigns in Uganda are compromised by a complicated political and religious landscape.