The stratified biomedicalization of HIV prevention in Mexico City

In the late 1990s antiretroviral pharmaceuticals began to be used in the United States and Western Europe to prevent HIV infection in contexts of occupational exposure. One decade later, the application of Post Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP) and Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) had been extended to include cases of exposure to sexual assault, injection-drug use, and consensual sexual intercourse deemed at high risk. This article explores the implementation of biomedicalized HIV prevention protocols at a public healthcare clinic in Mexico City, building on sociological-feminist approaches in Science and Technology Studies (STS) and drawing on interviews with key actors, as well as digital ethnography. We emphasise the stratified biomedicalization or, said otherwise, the differences in PEP and PrEP accessibility and consumption among different populations and groups. We also describe the fragile grip of institutionalised biomedical solutions when alternative 'moral economies' intersect with them, particularly in contexts like Mexico, where governmental funding for experimental research on biomedical innovations has been limited. This text reveals both the existence of contrasting technoscientific interventions along class and gender differences, and the multiple and vivid ways by which individuals appropriate and interpret global biomedical practices.