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Africans don't see Aids as dire problem: Survey
2004-04-08

Ordinary Africans do not share the experts' forecasts of the dire consequences of the Aids pandemic on the continent, according to the latest Afro barometer survey. Briefing the media today Bob Mattes, the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (Idasa) public opinion service programme manager, said the survey was carried out in 15 African countries during 2002/03. Link /// Afrobarometer HIV/AIDS http://www.idasa.org.za/

The survey was carried out in 15 African countries during 2002/03

Ordinary Africans do not share the experts' forecasts of the dire consequences of the Aids pandemic on the continent, according to the latest Afro barometer survey. Briefing the media today Bob Mattes, the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (Idasa) public opinion service programme manager, said the survey was carried out in 15 African countries during 2002/03.

Results of interviews with 23 000 adults showed many people, especially in east and southern Africa, had either lost family or friends to the pandemic, or suffered significant Aids related burdens, such as caring for sick family members or orphans.

Yet ordinary Africans do not share the experts' forecasts of the dire consequences of the pandemic, he said.

Africans were undecided about whether their governments should divert resources from other scarce priorities to fight Aids in their country. With some exceptions, such as South Africa, Namibia, and Botswana, African citizens were not even convinced Aids constituted a public problem worthy of government attention.

On a continent in which many people go without basic necessities, the relatively longer term threat of Aids must stand in line behind more pressing, immediate concerns.

While people who had lost family or friends to the disease were more likely to cite Aids as an important problem, those who had not were less likely to cite the issue. Further, publics in poorer countries were also less likely to see Aids as an important issue, Mattes said.

Other issues
Turning to the survey's findings on democracy, he said 75% of respondents said they supported democracy, and many rejected military rule and authoritarianism. However, democratic commitments were not fixed, with declining support in countries where governments had stayed in power the longest, and increased support where electoral change was more recent.

The survey also found, in contrast to their positive views on political reform, that Africans believed the process of economic reform had made their lives worse, rather than better. Yet, as Africans endured the impacts of economic crises and subsequent adjustment, they did not believe simply and cynically that things fall apart.

On the contrary, survey data demonstrated that hope prevails, with most respondents fully expecting their children would lead better lives than themselves.

Most people were willing to give economic reforms time to work, and societies displaying higher levels of hope for their children also expressed the greatest levels of patience with the economic reform process, he said.

In fact, economic patience had even increased over the past four years. This suggested many Africans recognised that to move away from controlled and corrupt economies entailed short-term pain that had to be endured before longer term benefits were realised, Mattes said. - (Sapa, 1 April 2004)

Link ///
Afrobarometer HIV/AIDS 

http://www.idasa.org.za/

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