The Fiscal Implications of Scaling up ODA to Deal with the HIV/AIDS Pandemic

Abstract

The H IV/AIDS pandemic has motivated large increases in aid commitments and disbursements, with promises of further large increases in the near future. This aid is urgently required to address the emerging humanitarian crisis and implies immediate, large-scale increases in public expenditure. The central question that this paper examines is whether such increases can effectively address the epidemic without inducing macroeconomic disturbances, especially for those countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, where there is already high aid dependence and parallel commitments to the other MDGs. (...)