Dialectics of Gender and Health: The Case of HIV Serodiscordance

Type Journal Article - Sociology of Health & Illness
Title Dialectics of Gender and Health: The Case of HIV Serodiscordance
Author(s)
Volume 35
Issue 8
Publication (Day/Month/Year) 2013
Page numbers 1260-1274
URL http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/101859/shil12038.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
Abstract
The relationship between gender and health is a deeply interdependent one. Yet research in this area has focused primarily on how gender relations determine health behaviour and health outcomes. This article advocates a more holistic approach that conceptualises gender and health as fully intertwined and mutually constitutive. This interplay is explored through the case of HIV serodiscordance in which one person in a relationship is HIV positive and the other HIV negative. Drawing on in-depth research with discordant couples in urban Uganda, this study indicates that living with discordance can both reinforce and challenge normative gender power dynamics in relationships. This study, therefore, illustrates how significant health problems can influence gender relations. As such, it reveals the dialectical relationship between gender and health and also provides important insights for HIV prevention in the new era of antiretroviral treatment as prevention.

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