Panel 15: Empowerment, Decentralization and Poverty. The Role of Local Communities in the Fight Against HIV/AIDS in East and Southern Africa

The countries of East and Southern Africa experience one of the worst dramatic HIV/AIDS epidemics worldwide. The fight against HIV/AIDS has long been considered a priority within the development programmes national governments have been implementing with the political and financial backing of foreign donors in both regions. However, the economic crisis and the collapse of public health systems mean that local communities are often left to bear the negative social and economic effects of the epidemic. Mainstream visions of empowerment and decentralization hide the fact that local communities must fill the void left by public health institutions, and that they face tremendous hardships when mobilize to help PLWHA, to devise self-help schemes, and to claim financial and material resources from both the central and the local government. Papers are invited which explore: theoretical approaches to community based health care system in East and Southern Africa, the role foreign donors and central governments play in fostering community based health care system, the problematic relationship between decentralisation and health service management at the local level, and community based initiatives aimed at helping PLWHA and fostering national and regional advocacy networks.