Logics of Action and Associative Experiences in Public Action for HIV/AIDS Control: Case of AAS and REVS+ in Burkina Faso

The late 1990s was a significant landmark in HIV control all over the world and more particularly in Africa and Burkina Faso. Right from the outset in this country, the critical measures that public authorities and their international partners took against HIV, indeed encompassed associations which became the mainspring in the national incentive. Hence, the emergence of associations in the bid to contain AIDS which was initiated and gathered momentum in the decade from 1990 to 2000. The key target of these NGOs (non-governmental organizations) and associations was to attend to HIV patients considered as being most vulnerable to   this infection. As a consequence, their main challenge was to put forth specific initiatives to meet their numerous needs. The manifold implications stemming from assisting infected people (prophylaxis, treatment, psychological counselling and so on) alongside collective management in an environment streamlined by the government and international financial backers are indications of an ever-growing complexification of public action requiring from the associations an adaption to the process as well as seasonable responses. Being the much sought-after health partners, the social organizations display their social efficiency in the general interest. This research deals with the experience of two pioneering health partners (AAS and REVS+) that, as early as   1998, broke grounds in treating HIV patients long before the government made the move to use ARV and many other methods. It hinges upon field observation and sound interviews with the staff and members of these associations in Ouagadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso.