ABSTRACT
In October 2007, Norman Hearst and I were in Uganda, just a week or two before the release of its latest National Strategic Plan (NSP) for HIV. When it appeared, we were not too surprised by the con tents. It proved the logical endpoint o f donor philosophy, because it virtually gutted the parts that had saved lives. Indeed, this draft plan could have come straight from any o f the southern African countries, where AIDS has spiraled out of control. It was a basket of medical “services” already proven (through randomized controlled trials and/or consistent associational studies) not to work in general ized epidemics. Fidelity was absent from the key numerical goals and targets that would presumably guide policy for the next five years. It all came riding in on the well-decorated float o f human rights.
