Multi-sectoral responses to HIV|AIDS: constraints and opportunities for technical co-operation

The magnitude of the HIV|AIDS epidemic, the severity of its impact and the inadequacy of purely health-based responses have prompted national, bilateral and international organizations alike to adopt multi-sectoral responses to contain the spread and mitigate the effects of HIV|AIDS. So far, the implementation of multi-sectoral responses has been hampered by a host of structural, logistical and policy constraints. This article examines the operational status, implications and constraints of multi-sectoral responses to HIV|AIDS for technical co-operation programmes, focusing on agricultural and rural development projects supported by GTZ (GTZ is the acronym for German Technical Co-operation (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit) in sub-Saharan Africa. The paper proposes a conceptual framework on the relevance of HIV|AIDS to non-health technical cooperation programmes, highlighting factors of susceptibility (The term 'susceptibility' describes factors that increase the likelihood that the epidemic will be propagated more rapidly) and vulnerability (The term 'vulnerability' describes factors that result in greater costs, financial or otherwise, as a consequence of increased morbidity and mortality associated with the epidemic) to the epidemic. It is argued that as HIV|AIDS is rooted in problems of underdevelopment, such as poverty, food and livelihood insecurity, socio-cultural inequalities and poor support services and infrastructure, AIDS-specific responses alone are unlikely to contain the spread or mitigate the impact of the epidemic. What is needed is a shift from AIDS-specific responses to what are oft-perceived to be AIDS-specific problems to an approach that addresses broader development problems across sectors, highlighting the specificity of HIV where necessary. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.