Question:
Are products like product red that are based on compassionate consumerism sustainable methods of slowing down the AIDS Crisis and other health crisis in African countries?
Annotated bibliography:
Youde, J. (2009). Ethical consumerism or reified neoliberalism? Product (RED) and private funding for public goods. New Political Science, 31(2), 201-220.
This article provides an excellent analysis about the product RED and its ability to harness private interest and consumer power to address the AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria crisis. The article emphasizes that the product red may not solve the Aids crisis or change the state of health for Africa but it offers a pragmatic solution to dealing with one of the major health issues by tapping
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This article addresses how the RED campaign differs from other campaigns in terms of its ability to increase the sales and profit of a company while also improving a good a brand image. The authors call red into action because companies use the RED brand fight against Global health crisis in Africa as a ruse for their corporate social responsibility where instead they are interested in making profit. This paper point out that if the companies are not transparent about the amount profited and donated, it will be impossible to predict the long term sustainability because consumers will lose trust in the company. But more red like initiatives would be formed that use shopping as a means to save world problems.
Helen Epstein.(2008) .The invisible cure: Why we are losing the Fight against AIDS in Africa. New York:
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It addresses how aid to Africa increases the cycle of poverty and diseases because the nation becomes more dependent on others and will not work to improve their health problems. Although the Aid for AIDS as of 2003 has increased the amount of people on ARV treatment from three hundred thousand to over three million the rate of transmission is still high and treatment is not the only cure. The paper says if Aids increase, the disease will not go away and western donors will lose interest in a cause that is refusing to stop despite their
Stephanie Nolen was already known for her work as the Globe and Mail’s Africa correspondent, ranging from the effects of war on women and children, to Stephen Lewis’ fight to end AIDS in Africa, when she published 28 Stories of AIDS in Africa in 2007. 28 is Nolen’s attempt to reflect the 28 million Africans who had HIV in 2007. Nolen gathered the testimonies of 28 individuals including orphans, miners, grandmothers, soldiers, the clergy, and Nelson Mandela. In this book, Nolen seamlessly integrates personal stories of the victims with shocking statistics and engrossing quotes, effortlessly bring a ‘human face’ to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. This is a great piece of work demanding both empathy and immediate action.
The HIV epidemic hits nowhere else in the world harder than Sub-Saharan Africa, which accounts for more than two-thirds of the entire world’s cases of HIV. In her book, “The Invisible Cure”, writer Helen Epstein explores the myriad of reasons as to why the HIV outbreak is so alarming as well as differentiated than any other area of the world. Epstein explores how cultural factors influence individual behaviors as well as generations that grow up under these cultural conditions, how political involvement (or lack thereof) can often misinform people, and how structural levels of privilege allows less opportunity for those in poverty to obtain the help that they may need.
The good news is that if we act with urgency, we have a great chance to impact the lives of millions of Africans for the better. It seems obvious that, according to Kofi Annan's essay, the best way to do this is by targeting the women of Africa. Through the use of AIDS education, new drought-resistant crops, and international resources it is possible to reduce the spread of AIDS and, in turn, help to lower starvation rates.
Spink, Gemma. "AIDS." AVERTing HIV and AIDS. 23 Dec 2009. Web. 11 Jan 2010. .
Although the sub-Saharan region accounts for just 10% of the world’s population, 67% (22.5 million) of the 33.4 million people living with HIV/AIDS in 1998 were residents of one of the 34 countries of sub-Saharan Africa, and of all AIDS deaths since the epidemic started, 83% have occurred in sub-Saharan Africa (Gilks, 1999, p. 180). Among children under age 15 living with HIV/AIDS, 90% live in sub-Saharan Africa as do 95% of all AIDS orphans. In several of the 34 sub-Saharan nations, 1 out of every 4 adults is HIV-positive (UNAIDS, 1998, p. 1). Taxing low-income countries with health care systems inadequate to handle the burden of non-AIDS related illnesses, AIDS has devastated many of the sub-Saharan African economies. The impact of AIDS on the region is such that it is now affecting demographics - changing mortality and fertility rates, reducing lifespan, and ultimately affecting population growth.
...g humanities survival as a whole. Treatment centers for curable diseases in Africa only promote dependency on foreign aid, how will these countries ever develop medical technology of their own if there is no need for it? Higher survival rates in children due to vaccinations also means more children are likely to survive until adulthood, which means they will also have children who will be born into the same rural jobless society their parents came from. This cycle can never be broken unless change is sought from within the country, not from others attempting to push the process along with funds. The simple fact is no matter how many schools or hospitals are built somewhere, unless the is a drastic change in the ideology of the people, those resources will continue to be mismanaged and the demographic transition from developing, to developed will never occur.
The first reasons to think that foreign aid should be spend is that “Aid saves lives” which is clearly illustrated by the researches conducted. Compare 1990 to 2010, as a result of aid in vaccines and health, there was a decrease in number of children who died from illness of pneumonia and diarrhoea (BBC). For example, in Botswana, the foreign aid fund had provided a test of HIV for pregnant mothers and therefore decrease the amount of newborn babies which catches HIV. Furthermore, in Bangladesh, there is a 62% drop in death rate for the under five children, the aid fund allows the government to be able to afford “vaccines and trained the midwives”.
In the last twenty years a major evolution of marketing has occurred in relation to charity organizations. As businesses choose to utilize cause-related marketing as a profit strategy, a succession of consequences has occurred, calling for examination and discussion, specifically when dealing with breast cancer, which is popularly associated with the symbol of the pink ribbon. Breast cancer organizations and discussions about breast cancer have seen a major shift from the scientific aspect of finding the cure towards the business side of turning a profit. Consumers must be made aware of the significance of this shift in order to form a judgment and react towards the dangers of the movement.
Young, D. (2012). Green Marketing & Marketing Ethics, Room 009, Block 17, Middlesex University Dubai. (25th March, 2012)
Gupta, K 2010, Innovative marketing strategy balancing commercial goal and corporate social responsibility. Mumbai [India: Himalaya Pub. House.
From the above situations and examples, the globalized international society has helped reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS. However, it is because globalized, international organizations have been able to come forward to solve this issue. At the same time, it is important to remember that many international organizations or states act in self interest due to which many developing states like Brazil initially faced problems in solving the issue of HIV/AIDS. Therefore, health issues such as that of HIV/AIDS are not only shaped by the science of biology, but also through policies, decisions and events in this globalized international society.
HIV/AIDS appeared in the 1980’s and quickly spread throughout the world. There is a strong, visible link between HIV/AIDS risk and infection and low social and economic development (Parker, 2002). The HIV epidemic occurs in places of poverty, racism, gender inequality, and sexual oppression. The growing division between the extremely wealthy and the extremely poor is increasing the isolation of and disease presence among the poor populations (Parker, 2002).
A country once in denial now has it’s South African political leaders addressing the disease that is slowing killing their population The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) which evolves into acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is affecting South Africa socially as well as economically. This disease is also leaving over a million and a half children orphaned. Most of these children are not only orphaned but living with the virus as well.
McInnes, Colin. 2011. "HIV, AIDS and conflict in Africa: why isn't it (even) worse?" Review of International Studies 37 (2): 485-509.
The emergence of HIV/AIDS is viewed globally as one of the most serious health and developmental challenges our society faces today. Being a lentivirus, HIV slowly replicates over time, attacking and wearing down the human immune system subsequently leading to AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome) at which point the affected individual is exposed to life threatening illnesses and eventual death. Despite the fact that a few instances of this disease have been accounted for in all parts of the world, a high rate of the aforementioned living with HIV are situated in either low or medium wage procuring nations. The Sub-Saharan region Africa is recognized as the geographic region most afflicted by the pandemic. In previous years, people living with HIV or at risk of getting infected did not have enough access to prevention, care and treatment neither were they properly sensitized about the disease. These days, awareness and accessibility to all the mentioned (preventive methods, care etc.) has risen dramatically due to several global responses to the epidemic. An estimated half of newly infected people are among those under age 25(The Global HIV/AIDS Epidemic). It hits hard as it has no visible symptoms and can go a long time without being diagnosed until one is tested or before it is too late to manage.