The political context of AIDS-related stigma and knowledge in a South African township community

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the presentation of AIDS-related stigma and knowledge within the political context of the South African government’s response to the AIDS epidemic. It was during the 2000 - 2004 period that key government officials publicly challenged the orthodox views of HIV/AIDS, with the South African president, Thabo Mbeki, actively positing the primary role of poverty and other socio-economic stressors in the progression of the AIDS epidemic. This discursive position had real-time effects for AIDS policy-making and ultimately delayed the implementation of a national antiretroviral (ARV) rollout programme. Consequently this position was criticised by commentators in the media and elsewhere for contributing to an already widespread climate of AIDS stigmatisation and misinformation. To shed more light on these claims we conducted a survey in 2005 in Atteridgeville, a South African township, and compared results with those of a similar survey conducted shortly after ARV medications became available in 2004. Results indicated a reduction in AIDS stigma levels across the 1-year period, and that those participants who endorsed contentious political views (such as those expressed by key government officials) were more likely to have a higher level of AIDS-related stigma than those who disagreed. Nevertheless, this study cautions against drawing a causal relationship between the South African government’s position and AIDS-stigmatising attitudes, and suggests that further political and social factors be accounted for in an attempt to gain a fuller understanding of this seemingly complex relationship.

Cardiometabolic markers to identify cardiovascular disease risk in HIV-infected black South Africans

“…It is well known that people living with HIV exhibit dyslipidaemia characterised by low HDL-C and high TG levels. [3] The latter was reported in newly identified HIVinfected South Africans, [14] although black Africans normally exhibit lower fasting TG and higher HDL-C levels than whites. [13] The HDL-C levels seen in the total HIV-infected group in this study (0.92 mmol/l) were below the level (1.28 mmol/l) generally regarded as an increased risk of developing CVD.…”

“…[1] The use of antiretroviral therapy (ART) has improved the quality and life expectancy in the HIV-infected population worldwide. [2] The HIV-infected population in SA gained free access to ART through the antiretroviral (ARV) roll-out programme, [3] which has made HIV a manageable disease in SA. However, infection with HIV and the treatment thereof may affect the heart and vasculature, leading to the development of cardiovascular disease (CVD), [4] which currently, after cancer, is the most frequent cause of death among HIV-infected individuals.…”

Negative stereotypes examined through the HIV and AIDS discourse: qualitative findings from white young people in Johannesburg, South Africa

“…We raise this issue because it is the stereotype spread by those who believed that sexual promiscuity is an element that African sexuality has in common with homosexuals (Levine and Ross 2002;Marcus 2002;Skinner and Mfecane 2004;Fassin 2008). The role of public political statements, uttered by some leaders of the ruling political party, the African National Congress (ANC), in creating doubts and misconceptions has been reported (Levine and Ross 2002), studied (Forsyth, Vandormael et al 2008) and critically discussed (Fassin 2002;Fassin 2008;Kenyon 2008). Underlying the comments about the government were assumptions of black stupidity, fuelling a racist ideology that blacks were not running the country competently or were 'stupid' .…”

“…2004; Kalichman, Simbayi et al 2005;Shisana, Rehle et al 2005;Govender 2006;Maughan-Brown 2006;Forsyth, Vandormael et al 2008;Palekar, Pettifor et al 2008). In addition, addressing the colonial legacy of racism stemming from apartheid is critical to addressing structural level violence that places additional pressures on black and white South Africans.…”

Non parametric identification of the constitutive model of non-standard viscoelastic materials by means of dynamical measurements

“…The Forsythe orthogonal polynomial basis is adopted and generated with the well known [10][11][12] recursive algorithm: Λ is a constant that results from the circular frequency normalization.…”