Understanding the complexity of international aid – a prize-winning dissertation
Year 5 student doctor Emily Whitehall has just picked up a Global Health BSc Project Prize for her dissertation on President Bush’s PEPFAR global HIV/AIDS programme, completed during her intercalated degree at King's College London last year. She tells us more about her research and intercalation experience.
For my dissertation I looked into the then American President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) in Southern Africa, focusing on the years 2001 - 2009.
PEPFAR was a targeted AIDS programme launched in 2003 under the Presidency of George Bush in response to the AIDS crisis unfolding across Sub Saharan Africa. In terms of money spent, it is the biggest global health campaign there has ever been.
Whilst the programme enabled rapid expansion of access to lifesaving HIV services across the countries, my dissertation argued that it could have achieved far more were it not for several key drawbacks.
Its implementation was predominantly unilateral and donor driven with conditionalities and policies that reflected the priorities of the US government, such as the promotion of Christian fundamentalist values. This served to undermine HIV prevention efforts, by limiting the autonomy of organisations receiving funding and more directly, by significantly reducing the number of people eligible to be treated, for example sex workers were not able to use their facilities.
I decided on this topic as I am really interested in HIV/AIDS, as well as the impact of international aid on low income countries.
The Global Health BSc course really opened my eyes to the complexity of international aid; that although the major aim is to provide relief and support, sometimes ulterior motives can play significant roles.
I wanted to explore this further in the case of PEPFAR. In addition to aid, the course covered hugely important and interesting topics including conflict and health, health inequalities and global burden of disease.
I loved my intercalation at King’s and would definitely recommend it to anyone considering intercalating in global health!
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Has Emily’s story piqued your interest in an intercalated degree? A significant opportunity for self-development and an investment in your future career, intercalation offer you the chance to earn an additional degree by studying a year-long intercalated course during your time at University. Learn more on our intercalation web pages.