Global Health Interventions and the "Common Sense" of Neoliberalism: A Dialectical Analysis of PEPFAR

Abstract

Neoliberal ideologies, implicated in increasing global inequality, have significantly influenced how global health interventions are conceived and executed. In this article, we take a critical stance towards the market-based impetus of neoliberalism as articulated in the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the largest comprehensive effort against the global HIV/AIDS epidemic. Using a variety of PEPFAR policy documents, our analysis points to the operation of a neoliberal "common sense" that provides a justification for intervention. Our analysis resulted in three themes: (a) the body as labor, (b) the gendering of the intervention, and (c) political economies of partnerships. © 2013 Copyright National Communication Association.