In the current global discourse on HIV, antiretroviral
therapy has been effective in suppressing viral load to an undetectable level
and rendering HIV non-infectious. Central to this discourse is the sociological
idea that effective antiretroviral treatment has fostered normalisation of HIV
in everyday life.
This article explores the question of how people living with
HIV in Nigeria evaluate the effectiveness of antiretroviral treatment in
achieving normalization. Drawing on insights from the sociology of evaluation,
it was found that patient’s evaluations of antiretroviral drugs differ from
those of medical professionals and HIV experts. While HIV experts limit their
definition of normalization to (a) being able to have unprotected sex and (b)
being able to have HIV-negative children, HIV patients take other factors into
account, such as the ability to breastfeed or to donate blood and organs. The
findings revealed that promissory notes of effective antiretroviral treatment
cannot foster complete normalisation in patients’ evaluations, but offer
partial normalisation of HIV in everyday life, as biomedical intervention
cannot nullify these risks and achieve HIV non-infectiousness completely. This
finding has not only highlighted the gulf between lay and expert understanding
of normalisation, but also uncovers the limit of the Swiss Consensus Statement
and the shortcomings associated with the current global campaign and discourse
that has prioritised undetectability equals untransmittability (#U=U).
Author(s) Details
Ayodeji Bayo
Ogunrotifa
Department of Law and Criminology, Royal Holloway University
of London, United Kingdom.
Please see the link:- https://doi.org/10.9734/bpi/cpassr/v2/750
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