Paying the price of HIV in Africa: cash transfers and the depoliticisation of HIV risk

Despite biomedical innovation, HIV incidence remains high in some African countries. HIV-related cash-transfer projects propose a solution. However, the author raises concerns about their success from a political economy perspective. Where structural change is invoked by these projects, it is too narrowly conceived. Some cash-transfer projects focus solely on 'nudging' choices about risky sex, without considering the wider set of factors that increase HIV incidence. Consequently, the promise of HIV-related cash transfers is dangerously exaggerated. Instead they obscure the underlying causes of high HIV prevalence, by focusing on individual behaviour and a limited, neoliberal-friendly menu of options.