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11 - From the Congo to the Caribbean

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

Jacques Pepin
Affiliation:
Université de Sherbrooke, Canada
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Summary

We saw in Chapter 1 how geopolitical events, in that case the Cuban intervention in Angola, had a measurable effect on the dissemination of HIV-1 into this Caribbean island. Here, we will see how earlier historical circumstances had even more dramatic impacts on the spread of HIV-1, first in its crucible of central Africa, and then across the Atlantic, by finally creating conditions propitious to the successful dissemination of the virus, after decades of quiescence. Although the next few pages may seem a little bit of a detour, these incidents lie at the heart of our story.

A botched decolonisation

Fifty years later, it is astonishing to read some of the colonial and early post-colonial writings about the Belgian Congo which is described as ‘our Congo’ or its inhabitants as Nos Noirs, our blacks. Belgium exploited this huge country, much to the profit of its banks and large corporations, but the Congolese benefited from the development of the infrastructure. Good roads were built, an impressive health system was put in place and primary school education was offered to many. It was cheaper for the colonial government to subsidise Catholic (and, after WWII, Protestant) missions to take care of the teaching, and its expenditures on education were modest. In contrast with their French and British counterparts, Belgian colonialists elected not to train any Congolese elite, presumably for fear that these educated few would sooner or later challenge the colonial order. Only a tiny proportion would be able to enter secondary schools, and very few apart from Catholic priests would have access to post-secondary education. In 1957–8, out of 494 Congolese students attending post-secondary education, 376 were future priests enrolled in the seminaries. Throughout Africa, the Belgian Congo had the second highest proportion of its population that had attended primary school but the lowest with regard to post-secondary education. Among adults aged twenty and over, 1.7% of men and 0.1% of women had received at least one year of post-primary education, and respectively 0.5% and 0.04% had completed secondary school.

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The Origins of AIDS , pp. 180 - 196
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2011

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