Are country reputations for good and bad leadership on AIDS deserved: an exploratory quantitative analysis

Abstract

Some countries, like Brazil, have good reputations on AIDS policy, whereas others, notably South Africa, have been criticized for inadequate leadership. Cross-country regression analysis suggests that most of the 'poster children' for AIDS leadership have indeed performed better or worse than expected given their economic and institutional constraints and the demographic and health challenges facing them. Regressions are run on HAART coverage (number on highly active antiretroviral therapy as % of total need) and MTCTP coverage (pregnant HIV+ women accessing mother-to-child-transmission prevention services as % of total need). Brazil, Burkina-Faso, Cambodia, Costa Rica, Mali, Namibia, Suriname, Thailand, Paraguay, and Uganda performed consistently better than expected. South Africa, Uruguay, and Trinidad and Tobago performed consistently and significantly worse than expected.