AEGiS-15IAC: Public health activism and changing conceptions of "care" with respect to HIV/AIDS among women in southern Africa.

15th International AIDS Conference

Bangkok, Thailand - July 11-16, 2004

Public health activism and changing conceptions of "care" with respect to HIV/AIDS among women in southern Africa.

Int Conf AIDS 2004 Jul 11-16; 15:(abstract no. TuOrD1120)

Susser IS, Parisi PE
Columbia University/Hunter College, New York City, United States

ISSUES: The increased availability and funding of treatment and prevention techniques for HIV/AIDS in southern Africa is transforming social, cultural and political milieux and forcing a re-evaluation of social programs and cultural expectations. Based on ethnographic research in Namibia and South Africa In this moment of transition, we examine the changing constructions of care among men and women.

DESCRIPTION: In addressing AIDS, the question of what caring consists of and what men and women are responsible for is changing rapidly. Where, until now, women have been predominantly involved in the basic care of the sick, now, the monitoring of treatment routines combined with the explanation of side effects and needs for the treatment of opportunistic diseases appear to be increasing the roles for men in the negotiation of care. Secondly, the new programs preventing mother to child transmission combined with the new availability of infant formula have modified the nurturant role of women and opened spaces for men to participate. Thirdly, the new availability of women's barrier methods is transforming responsibilities between men and women in sexual interactions.

LESSONS LEARNED: Caring for people with AIDS has always been construed in a much broader and more proactive way than the basics of individual care, treatment and prevention. Thus, we review the ways in which public health activism is transforming the definition of care and the issues of gender within it. As women, always the main care providers, become the growing majority of People With Aids, the construction of AIDS and caring by women's collective activism has become particularly significant.

RECOMMENDATIONS: Public health activist groups and feminist mobilization will be considered as crucial factors in redefining the notion of caring, who needs care and what constitutes care in the current context.

Keywords: AEGIS, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, HIV Seropositivity, HIV Infections, Public Health, Africa, Southern, Evaluation Studies, Risk Factors, Health Education, Incidence, Disease Outbreaks, Public Policy, South Africa, Namibia, Humans, Female, Male, Child, Infant, economics

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TuOrD1120