Living with HIV at the time of its normalization: a routine experience for women?

To meet the objective of ending the AIDS pandemic in 2030, screening and access to antiretroviral treatments (ARV) must be extended in Africa. This in turns requires that people agree to be screened and treated. Since the beginning of the epidemic, however, the stigmatization of people persons living with HIV (PlHIV) has been a major obstacle in the battle against HIV/AIDS. Despite a substantial reduction in its prevalence over the past 20 years in Burkina Faso, its stigma remains high. The objective of this study is to characterize the local expression of stigmatization in this country towards these women to help to combat it. The method used a long-term ethnographic survey that combined observations of the setting and qualitative interviews of 40 women - both seronegative and seropositive. The results show the appearance of a sort of normalization of HIV/AIDS because the bioclinical effects of the infection are less serious and less visible than they were before ARV. The social effects of the disease nonetheless continue to constitute a threat, or at least they are so perceived by both seropositive and seronegative women. Although less visible, stigmatization persists and constrains seropositive women to use strategies to withdraw from some social spaces to protect themselves. PlHIV active in community associations play an essential role in this setting. They help women to keep their stigmata "under control" and play a role in its normalization by helping to moderate representations of HIV/AIDS and the people who have it.