An Issue of Environmental Justice: Understanding the Relationship among HIV/AIDS Infection in Women, Water Distribution, and Global Investment in Rural Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

This essay contributes to debates about the impact of HIV/AIDS on women of African descent by juxtaposing two challenges facing rural sub-Saharan African women today: HIV/AIDS and the water crisis. When analyzed in juxtaposition and in the specific context of rural sub-Saharan Africa, the HIV/AIDS and water crises represent an issue of environmental justice. The remediation of these two crises requires comprehension of the interrelations among the political history of sub-Saharan Africa. It requires an understanding of the policies driving global relief efforts that target rural sub-Saharan populations. And it requires insight into the socioeconomic needs of rural sub-Saharan African women as well as the cultural resources among this population that can be mobilized to help resolve the problem.