The end of AIDS? HIV and the new landscape of illness in rural South Africa
ABSTRACTThe global HIV/AIDS scientific community has begun to hail the dawn of ‘the End of AIDS’ with widespread anti-retroviral therapy (ART) and dramatic declines in AIDS-related mortality. Drawing on community focus groups and in-depth individual interviews conducted in rural South Africa, we exa...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Taylor & Francis Group
2022-01-01
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| Series: | Global Public Health |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/17441692.2020.1851743 |
| _version_ | 1797323554214117376 |
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| author | Sanyu A. Mojola Nicole Angotti Danielle Denardo Enid Schatz F. Xavier Gómez Olivé |
| author_facet | Sanyu A. Mojola Nicole Angotti Danielle Denardo Enid Schatz F. Xavier Gómez Olivé |
| author_sort | Sanyu A. Mojola |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | ABSTRACTThe global HIV/AIDS scientific community has begun to hail the dawn of ‘the End of AIDS’ with widespread anti-retroviral therapy (ART) and dramatic declines in AIDS-related mortality. Drawing on community focus groups and in-depth individual interviews conducted in rural South Africa, we examine the complex unfolding of the end of AIDS in a hard-hit setting. We find that while widespread ART has led to declines in AIDS-related deaths, stigma persists and is now freshly motivated. We argue that the shifting landscape of illness in the community has produced a new interpretive lens through which to view living with HIV and dying from AIDS. Most adults have one or more chronic illnesses, and ART-managed HIV is now considered a preferred diagnosis because it is seen as easier to manage, more responsive to medication, and less dangerous compared to diseases like cancer, hypertension, and diabetes. Viewed through this comparative lens, dying from AIDS elicits stigmatising individual blame. We find that blame persists despite community acknowledgement of structural barriers to ART adherence. Setting the ending of AIDS within its wider health context sheds light on the complexities of the epidemiological and health transitions underway in much of the developing world. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T05:30:16Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-bc0cfc0d59264544960db0acf8e851fe |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1744-1692 1744-1706 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T05:30:16Z |
| publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Global Public Health |
| spelling | doaj.art-bc0cfc0d59264544960db0acf8e851fe2024-02-06T07:49:47ZengTaylor & Francis GroupGlobal Public Health1744-16921744-17062022-01-01171132510.1080/17441692.2020.1851743The end of AIDS? HIV and the new landscape of illness in rural South AfricaSanyu A. Mojola0Nicole Angotti1Danielle Denardo2Enid Schatz3F. Xavier Gómez Olivé4Department of Sociology, School of Public and International Affairs, and the Office of Population Research, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USAMRC/Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit (Agincourt), Faculty of Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of the Witwatersrand, South AfricaSocial and Behavioral Sciences, Soka University of America, Aliso Viejo, CA, USAMRC/Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit (Agincourt), Faculty of Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of the Witwatersrand, South AfricaMRC/Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit (Agincourt), Faculty of Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of the Witwatersrand, South AfricaABSTRACTThe global HIV/AIDS scientific community has begun to hail the dawn of ‘the End of AIDS’ with widespread anti-retroviral therapy (ART) and dramatic declines in AIDS-related mortality. Drawing on community focus groups and in-depth individual interviews conducted in rural South Africa, we examine the complex unfolding of the end of AIDS in a hard-hit setting. We find that while widespread ART has led to declines in AIDS-related deaths, stigma persists and is now freshly motivated. We argue that the shifting landscape of illness in the community has produced a new interpretive lens through which to view living with HIV and dying from AIDS. Most adults have one or more chronic illnesses, and ART-managed HIV is now considered a preferred diagnosis because it is seen as easier to manage, more responsive to medication, and less dangerous compared to diseases like cancer, hypertension, and diabetes. Viewed through this comparative lens, dying from AIDS elicits stigmatising individual blame. We find that blame persists despite community acknowledgement of structural barriers to ART adherence. Setting the ending of AIDS within its wider health context sheds light on the complexities of the epidemiological and health transitions underway in much of the developing world.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/17441692.2020.1851743HIVAIDSSouth Africastigmachronic disease |
| spellingShingle | Sanyu A. Mojola Nicole Angotti Danielle Denardo Enid Schatz F. Xavier Gómez Olivé The end of AIDS? HIV and the new landscape of illness in rural South Africa Global Public Health HIV AIDS South Africa stigma chronic disease |
| title | The end of AIDS? HIV and the new landscape of illness in rural South Africa |
| title_full | The end of AIDS? HIV and the new landscape of illness in rural South Africa |
| title_fullStr | The end of AIDS? HIV and the new landscape of illness in rural South Africa |
| title_full_unstemmed | The end of AIDS? HIV and the new landscape of illness in rural South Africa |
| title_short | The end of AIDS? HIV and the new landscape of illness in rural South Africa |
| title_sort | end of aids hiv and the new landscape of illness in rural south africa |
| topic | HIV AIDS South Africa stigma chronic disease |
| url | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/17441692.2020.1851743 |
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