Politics & Governance / Public Policy / Healthcare Policy

The Hyena Scapegoat: How $100M in AIDS Aid Fueled a Deadly Lie in Malawi

Development, Sexual Cultural Practices and HIV/AIDS in Africa

Samantha Page

In the late 1990s, Malawi was flooded with hundreds of millions of dollars in international aid to fight HIV/AIDS. But instead of saving lives, the epidemic accelerated. Why? Samantha Page, a former NGO insider turned anthropologist, spent a decade uncovering the truth. In her book *Development, Sexual Cultural Practices and HIV/AIDS in Africa*, she reveals how the international community and local elites conspired to blame a rare village ritual called 'Fisi' (the hyena) for the crisis—while ignoring the real drivers: wealthy, educated men in cities. This video breaks down the shocking math, the deliberate suppression of science, and how the aid industry became a self-perpetuating machine that kept people terrified and dying. Discover why the 'hyena' was a ghost, and who really profited from the pandemic.