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Chronicity, crisis, and the 'end of AIDS'

Thurka Sangaramoorthy1

  • 1a Department of Anthropology , University of Maryland , College Park , USA.

Global Public Health
|January 12, 2018
PubMed

Insights

The concept of an "end of AIDS" through HIV chronicity overlooks ongoing crises. This perspective, driven by treatment advances, prolongs uncertainty and social precarity, especially for marginalized communities.

Area of Science:

  • Public Health
  • Medical Anthropology
  • Sociology of Health

Background:

  • The discourse of an 'end of AIDS' is prevalent in public health and biomedical fields.
  • This narrative frames HIV as a manageable chronic condition, emphasizing lifelong treatment.
  • This approach is influenced by advancements in HIV treatment and global health investments.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To critically examine the concept of HIV chronicity and its role in the 'end of AIDS' discourse.
  • To explore how HIV chronicity intensifies long-term uncertainty and prolonged crisis.
  • To analyze how this discourse obscures the ongoing HIV crisis, particularly for marginalized and aging populations.

Main Methods:

  • Long-term (10+ years) ethnographic research and public health investigation in the United States.
  • Analysis of discourse surrounding HIV chronicity and the 'end of AIDS' in field sites and global contexts.

Main Results:

  • HIV chronicity, while a result of medical progress, perpetuates long-term uncertainty and crisis.
  • The 'end of AIDS' discourse, built on HIV chronicity, masks the persistent HIV crisis.
  • Marginalized and aging populations in under-resourced areas are disproportionately affected, experiencing ongoing social precarity.

Conclusions:

  • HIV chronicity signifies a continuing global crisis and social precarity, not an end to AIDS.
  • The 'end of AIDS' narrative obscures the lived realities of those experiencing the ongoing HIV epidemic.
  • Rethinking HIV management requires addressing the social determinants and persistent inequalities faced by affected communities.

Keywords:
HIV/AIDSUnited Statesageingchronicityhealth inequity

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