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‘A Virus and Nothing Else’: the Effect of ART on HIV-Related Stigma in Rural South Africa

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Abstract

While the World Health Organization acknowledges the potential of antiretroviral therapy to reduce HIV-related stigma, few studies examine the nature of this linkage. This article discusses the connection between ART and HIV-related stigma, using qualitative analysis of interviews with HIV-positive adults at a rural South African clinic. The data has two main implications for ART’s role in stigma reduction: it strengthens the plausibility that ART can reduce stigma through weakening HIV/AIDS’s link with disfigurement and death, and shows that ART enables the establishment of spaces for support, which reduce stigma through normalization of the disease.

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Acknowledgments

Special thanks to Paul Pronyk, Mosa Moshabela and Niketa Williams for their assistance in data collection and analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Community Health, Brown University, 121 South Main Street, Providence, RI, 02912, USA

    Melanie Zuch

  2. Department of Community Health, Brown University, Brown Medical School, International Health Institute, Box G-S 121-2, 121 South Main Street, Providence, RI, 02912, USA

    Mark Lurie

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  1. Melanie Zuch
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  2. Mark Lurie
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Correspondence to Melanie Zuch.

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Zuch, M., Lurie, M. ‘A Virus and Nothing Else’: the Effect of ART on HIV-Related Stigma in Rural South Africa. AIDS Behav 16, 564–570 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-011-0089-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-011-0089-6

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