Abstract:
One of the most extensive challenges that ordinary South Africans, and more specifically, the South African government is faced with, is to find a way to manage the looming HIV/AIDS disaster that is
unfolding in our midst. The successful management of HIV/AIDS requires a holistic and integrated multisectoral approach that in essence is underpinned by disaster management principles.
Notwithstanding the multiple and costly efforts from government, the evident rise in the statistics in HIV/AIDS seem to challenge those advocates that want South Africans and the world to believe that the HIV/AIDS epidemic is well under control. However, it deserves to be mentioned that
government is indeed involved in various initiatives in an attempt to manage
the HIV/AIDS epidemic successfully.
In this article it would be argued that the management of HIV/AIDS according to disaster management principles is a possible solution to successfully manage the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The management of HIV/AIDS according to disaster management principles would lead to the suggestion
that AIDS is a typical slow-onset disaster. In order for government to effectively manage HIV/AIDS,, it would be necessary to adopt an integrated, and multisectoral disaster management approach.
In the absence of a medical cure, the management of the HIV/AIDS epidemic
according to disaster management principles, is possibly an alternative way
to understand and manage the HIV/AIDS epidemic successfully in South Africa.
