Introduction: The South African State and the Responsibility to Respond

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book discusses the dimensions of the problem of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in South Africa. It explores the scope of the problem relying on both published and unpublished, primary-source, and employing statistics and qualitative analysis of the initial trajectory of the spread of the HI-virus into South Africa. The book focuses on the international and national policy environments respectively, paying particular attention to the political and economic factors that compete for the South African Government's attention to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. It relates South Africa's responsibility to HIV/AIDS epidemic to the state's accountability, as per tenet three of sovereign statehood, to the international community of sovereign states. The book proposes policy recommendations relating specifically to the responsibility to respond to HIV/AIDS at the national and global governance levels as a practical means of bridging the GAP on this particular issue.