Developing Socially and Ethically Responsive National AIDS Policies

Responding to AIDS at the global or local levels can give rise to a multitude of tensions. To facilitate sustainable attainment of AIDS response goals, these tensions need to be deliberately balanced. This chapter discusses data from an exercise that examined how responsive Ghana’s National AIDS policy documents/guidelines are to social, cultural, political, and ethical contexts. The chapter highlights key measures to developing and implementing national AIDS response policies that do not lose sight of how policy insensitivities, but also how social forces, and other structural barriers affect realization of health. Although focused on Ghana’s AIDS response guidelines, the analysis presented in the chapter enables identification of gaps in similar national public health policies.