A different disease: HIV/AIDS and health care for women in poverty.
The goal of this paper is to demonstrate that HIV/AIDS for poor women is a qualitatively different disease than the one first defined in the United States in the 1980s. HIV/AIDS for poor women is not a new disease; it is only another life-threatening condition which parallels serious health problems already experienced by these populations. A time-honored and broad continuum of disease and death for poor women is linked to such factors as poverty, self-medication, infant morbidity, infant mortality and cervical cancer. The programmatic responses to HIV/AIDS in poor women have been grafted onto existing services established by and for homosexual men or onto the obstetrical-gynecological and prenatal systems already in place. Furthermore, the primary socio-psychological mechanisms of denial and dependency that characterize poor women are far more salient than notions of risk-taking or sexual lifestyles. These conclusions lead to somber predictions for the course of the epidemic and the prognosis for treatment and care for poor women with HIV.
Ward
M C
MC
Department of Anthropology, University of New Orleans, LA 70148.
D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000635:transmission; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000635:transmission; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007226:Infant Mortality / Q000639:trends; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008019:Life Style; D008489:Medical Indigency / Q000639:trends*; D011203:Poverty; D011247:Pregnancy; D012307:Risk Factors; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D012931:Social Environment; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D014932:Women's Health Services / Q000639:trends*