The War Inside: HIV, Development, and the "People's War" in Nepal

Abstract

Agricultural failures, uneven development, a decade-long civil war, and reforms associated with neoliberal economics have converged to promote the spread of HIV among rural Nepalese people. In this paper I will concern myself with questions such as, how has the natural and human history of land usage and land tenure contributed to the current crisis in food production? How have the paradigms of international development, globalization and the economic policies under structural adjustment affected economic choices of the Nepalese people? How have food grain shortfalls influenced the movements and work patterns of rural people? And most importantly, how have and how do altered work patterns continue to place people at risk of contracting HIV? In order to seek some resolution to the complex and distressing problems that currently place Nepalese people at risk of HIV infection; I will also examine how the epidemic, while not yet generalized, is being combated. I end by making recommendations for interventions I believe would assist greatly in limiting the epidemic before it does indeed become generalized.