Muleskinner

Issue date: 2/8/07 Section: Features

Insight - Henry Wambuii's book explores the topic of AIDS in Kenya.

Since the first recorded case of HIV/AIDS in 1984, Kenya has been a country that has, like much of the sub-Saharan region of Africa, fallen victim to perhaps the most horrific pandemic to sweep the world in the last 30 years.

In the book "The Politics of HIV/AIDS and Implications for Democracy in Kenya", Henry Wambuii, associate professor of political science at Central, examines the impact the HIV/AIDS pandemic has had on the politics of the region.

Wambuii, born and raised in Kenya, had the opportunity to experience the devastating nature of the disease firsthand.
"As people around you started disappearing, it became reality," Wambuii said. "I knew many people from my neighborhood that were missing due to AIDS. People called it the slimming disease."

Phrases such as "missing" and "slimming disease" were commonplace during the early stages of the AIDS pandemic in Kenya. These terms were representative of the state of denial that consumed the country during the late 80's and early 90's.

"One overlapping stage associated with HIV/AIDS is fear," Wambuii said. "Policy wise in the 80's was the point of fear and denial.

"The late 90's became a very crucial decade; the state made it a policy issue. Fear was still present but it became a positive matter."

Fear and denial led to the spreading of a disease that encompassed and eventually came to define a region.
According to Wambuii's book, a poll taken in 2005 showed nearly 25.8 million or more than 60 percent of the world's AIDS population resides in sub-Saharan Africa.

"There was a combination of factors that started in Uganda," Wambuii said. "A majority of the African governments chose to deny, play it down and send a message to its people that it's O.K. to ignore it."

The book looks at how the response to HIV/AIDS in Kenya has led to the drastic change in government, namely the country's 2002 shift toward democracy.

Wambuii wanted to look at AIDS from a social perspective where in the past it had been viewed as only a medical matter.

"While AIDS can be a medical issue, another way to look at it is socially," Wambuii said. "I used it to examine democracies by looking at the response to HIV/AIDS by government."

Wambuii said the impact of the disease and the actions brought forth by groups helped jump-start government action in Kenya.
"AIDS is an external shock that helped inject strength into the government," Wambuii said. "It's like a tree; it will grow as long as you nurture it."

According to an article titled "Why is Kenya's AIDS Rate Plummeting" in the May 18, 2006 edition of the International Herald Tribune, AIDS does appear to be on the decline in Kenya although the numbers remain staggering. In two years the number of individuals infected in Kenya has dropped from 14 percent to 10.

"The political environment in Kenya has changed over the last couple of years," Wambuii said. "The free flow information has allowed people to educate themselves on AIDS. The government is setting the right tone, helping people become responsible."

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