This paper attempts to analyze the governmental responses to Aids epidemic in two conflicting cases: Brazil and South Africa. Drawing on the examination of Aids epidemic's trajectories in both countries and the extensive literature about that thematic, we try to comprehend the reason for such diversified governmental responses to those similar sociopolitical contexts. The paper supports that the inter-relations between political institution and wider processes of nation-building can explain such different governmental responses to Aids and illuminate the complex relationship between Aids, sexuality, race and national identity in Brazil and South Africa.
Aids policy; Brazil; South Africa; political institutions; national identity