Rankin and colleagues argue that HIV-related stigma is fueling the epidemic, and disempowering women even further.

Heterosexually transmitted HIV/AIDS continues to devastate the health and economy of sub-Saharan African countries. In Malawi, 15.4% of 15-49 year olds are infected with HIV and 18-26% of pregnant women are living with HIV. Research has shown that sociocultural factors, especially gender roles and relationships, play a significant role in the transmission of HIV in Africa but little is known about Malawi women's perspective on HIV/AIDS. What do Malawi women say about the impact of HIV/AIDS on their lives, their role in prevention, and the barriers they face in trying to stem the spread of the disease? To answer these questions, three focus groups with Malawi women were conducted and analyzed for themes. The purpose of this paper is to describe one emergent theme captured in the statement, "We are just vessels for our husbands." This theme is explicated through discussions of women's and men's images, women's roles, gender/power relationships, disempowerment, role models and empowerment. Evident in this theme are interrelated messages for those involved in HIV/AIDS prevention. Health education alone is insufficient to stem the tide of HIV in Malawi. A multidisciplinary, systematic approach that includes women's education and economic empowerment as well as modifying legal and social structures that contribute to the spread of HIV/AIDS in Malawi is suggested as necessary additions to HIV and AIDS intervention programs. Only through forging partnerships between health, education, women's development groups, and political and social leaders will we be able to reduce the impact of HIV/AIDS in Malawi.

Addressed in this article are the familial, cultural and religious influences on Malawi women that contribute to HIV/AIDS. Thirty-nine adult Malawi women representing voluntary assistance groups, religious groups, and university women participated in 3 focus groups in Malawi. Interview data were taped, transcribed, and analyzed using qualitative descriptive analysis. Findings revealed that multiple burdens in the lives of Malawi women resulting from poverty and responsibility for family members are made more onerous by religious institutions, sexual practices, and cultural beliefs. In conclusion, women's "donkey work" may result in at-risk sexual behavior as a means of survival, thus increasing the incidence of HIV/AIDS. Alleviating the burdens involves efforts from religious groups and restructuring of belief systems.

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Reimagining the national map should also invite a reimagining of “nation” as a category. Maps do crucial work in stitching together the term's two overlapping meanings—nation as territorial state, and nation as group of people—and maps can, in turn, help to interrogate and reconstitute these meanings. In my commentary, I offer three ways that “nation” is at stake in Rossetto and Lo Presti's argument: (1) in distinguishing cartographies of diversity from cartographies of belonging; (2) in distinguishing a pluralism of bodies from a pluralism of perspectives; and (3) in the choice between renegotiating and abandoning the term itself.