The measurable targets also matched various aspects of the coordination and comprehensive understanding of the problem by including measures such as the capacity of health centres, distribution of health workers, and effectiveness of cooperation programs. Two HIV/AIDS policies of the South African government were selected for analysis using three methods to provide both retrospective and prospective results. These policies represented major developments in policymaking and have strong impact on the efforts to address the HIV/AIDS problem.
First is the intervention policy in 2000 that targeted the reduction in the number of HIV infections in five years. Second is the comprehensive treatment policy targeting the rise in the rate of HIV/AIDS infections together with related problems such as poor nutrition and low levels of education. In using the trend analysis, there is a major shift in the scope of policymaking on HIV/AIDS in South Africa. The intervention policy targeted HIV/AIDS as a single and separate issue while the comprehensive treatment policy considered HIV/AIDS as a comprehensive issue related to other social problems.
This change is linked to the adoption of South Africa of the MDGs that carried the comprehensive and long-term perspective. The intervention policy emerged before the MDGs and the shifts happened after South Africa committed to the range of collective goals. The adoption of the MDGs perspective has supported comprehensive outcomes. In using the stakeholder analysis, the two policies considered the interests of different stakeholders but in varying degrees with higher levels of involvement in the comprehensive treatment policy.
The common problem is in the coordination of the interests and roles of the stakeholders, particularly the consultation and involvement of people with HIV/AIDS and the private sector. This constitutes an area for improvement in future policymaking. By using the components or elements of a good policy to assess the two selected policies, it appears that the comprehensive treatment policy is better than the intervention policy because the former takes a broader perspective of the problem of HIV/AIDS to capture more accurately the reality of the problem and ensure more effective solutions and sustainable outcomes.
The data found on the documents treated through the three methods of data analysis derived from the literature review were able to address the aim of the study to investigate HIV/AIDS policymaking in South Africa in the context of the MGDs. The aim was two-fold. One is to determine the influence of the MDGs and the other is to determine the impact of the policies in light of the influence of the MDGs. Results showed that the MDGs influenced the comprehensive treatment policy in terms of the adoption of its broad and long-term perspective.
This impact of the comprehensive treatment policy is more encompassing and long-term outcomes. The results reflected many concepts discussed in the review of literature and provided empirical data that is unavailable in existing literature. The findings have implications for professional practice. One is the importance of the accurate understanding of the problem in policy determination. The understanding of the problem determines the effectiveness of the solution.
Another is the importance of a multiple perspectives in treating broad problems such as HIV/AIDS. Different stakeholders can inform policymakers about the important considerations in understanding the problem, selecting options, and implementing policies. Last is the important role of international influence on national policymaking for global problems to facilitate collective efforts in resolving the problem at the national front but with international implications.