Diagnosis and stigma and identity amongst HIV positive Black Africans living in the UK

The Experience of Antiretroviral Treatment for Black West African Women who are HIV Positive and Living in London: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis

“…Doyal and Anderson (11) used qualitative methods to look at the experiences of African women living in London with HIV, and found that issues around gender and migrant status were as important as their HIV status. Living in the UK granted women access to treatments they would not have had in Africa but, consistent with other work (12), this came at the price of living far away from home. The same authors also explored the lives of heterosexual African men living with HIV in London (13) and reported that men found it hard to accept their HIV status, which was considered an assault on manliness.…”

“…Men were also likely to be isolated, living away from friends and family. For many people of black African heritage living with HIV in London, issues such as housing, lack of money and concerns about immigration status, confidentiality, stigma and difficulties accessing healthcare may be more pressing than considering and dealing with their seropositive status (12,14).…”

“…Several authors have focused on the impact of HIV-related stigma for people of black African heritage living with HIV outside Africa (12,15). One strong qualitative paper spoke to key figures within healthcare about African people living with HIV in the UK (14) and found that despite the availability of effective ART since 1996, African patients, especially men, still tended to access care late and that patients reported pathways to care as being overly complex.…”

“…For some, keeping their HIV status secret was more important than adhering to medication. Flowers et al (12) found that stigma could lead to additional problems for people of black African heritage living with HIV in London, including lack of social support and isolation.…”

Being naturalised, being left behind: the HIV citizen in the era of treatment possibility

“…First, HIV is not wholly analogous to other chronic illnesses, because of its associations with pathologised social states -sex work, intravenous drug use, and gay, female and 'promiscuous' sexualities -and its potentially fatal, difficult-to-treat nature. These characteristics, alongside the physical and social visibility of HIV illness, treatment sideeffects, and prophylactic actions like taking vitamins, eating healthily, having caesarians or formula feeding, generate continuing stigmatisation even in situations of accessible treatment and care (Flowers et al, 2006). A number of the South African women interviewees suggested that, however treatable HIV becomes, however strongly discrimination is resisted, the condition's association with transgressive sexuality, particularly for women, will always render it socially pathological -unlike, for instance, TB.…”