From Acute Infection to Chronic Health Condition: The Role of the Social Sciences on the HIV/AIDS Global Epidemic

To date, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections remain a global public health issue. While there remains no cure, recent biomedical advances have turned HIV from an acute infection into a manageable, chronic health condition. This transformation has enabled people living with HIV (PLHIV) to lead long, healthy lives. Pivotal to this transformation was the role of the social sciences. The social sciences discipline has generated valuable insights into the behavioral, social, cultural, and political factors that impact the development and implementation of HIV programs and interventions. This chapter will explicate the interpretative and critical role of the social sciences in understanding HIV/AIDS and the ways in which the social sciences will continue to impact this global epidemic. The chapter will begin with a short history of HIV/AIDS and its current global trajectory since it was first detected in the 1980s. Subsequent discussions will center around the issues arising from the biomedicalization of HIV/AIDS and illustrate the ways in which the social sciences have deepened the impact of HIV/AIDS work. These will include how the social sciences have shed light on the facilitators and barriers of HIV prevention, uncovered insights into the lived experiences of PLHIV and HIV care, and interrogated the structural impediments and sociopolitical discourses that influence the local and global ideologies for this chronic health condition. The chapter will close with the authors’ reflections regarding the ways in which the social sciences can continue to value-add to HIV/AIDS work in the future.

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Handbook of Social Sciences and Global Public Health

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978-3-030-96778-9

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