Framing rights and responsibilities: accounts of women with a history of AIDS activism

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dc.contributor.authorMacGregor, Hayleyen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorMills, Elizabethen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2015-11-11T11:57:46Z
dc.date.available2015-11-11T11:57:46Z
dc.date.issued2011en_ZA
dc.description.abstractBACKGROUND: In South Africa, policy with respect to HIV/AIDS has had a strong rights-based framing in line with international trends and in keeping with the constitutional overhaul in the post-Apartheid era. There have also been considerable advances since 1994 towards legal enshrinement of sexual and reproductive health rights and in the provision of related services. Since HIV in this setting has heavily affected women of reproductive age, there has been discussion about the particular needs of this subgroup, especially in the context of service integration. This paper is concerned with the way in which HIV positive women conceptualise these rights and whether they wish and are able to actualise them in their daily lives. METHODS: In 2003 a group of women involved with the Treatment Action Campaign and Medicines Sans Frontieres participated in an initiative to 'map' their bodies as affected by the virus. A book containing the maps and narratives was published and used as a political tool to pressure the government of the day to roll out antiretroviral therapy (ART) to the population. In 2008, the authors coordinated an initiative that involved conducting follow-up in-depth interviews in which five of these women reflected on those body maps and on how their lives had changed in the intervening five years since gaining the right to treatment through the public sector. RESULTS: Drawing upon this qualitative data and published sources, these new accounts are analysed in order to reflect the perspectives of these women living with chronic HIV with respect to their sexual relations and fertility desires. The paper reveals difficulties faced by these women in negotiating sexual relationships and disclosure of their HIV positive status. It focuses on how they perceive relative responsibilities in terms of taking preventative measures in sexual encounters. Women adopt tactics within a context characterised by various inequalities in order to 'make do', such as by remaining silent about their status. Concerns about childbearing can be addressed by information and support from a health care worker. CONCLUSIONS: Women's experience of HIV as a chronic illness and the need to adhere to ART, is linked to the way in which the language of responsibility can come to counter-balance a language of rights in treatment programmes.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationMacGregor, H., & Mills, E. (2011). Framing rights and responsibilities: accounts of women with a history of AIDS activism. <i>BMC International Health and Human Rights</i>, http://hdl.handle.net/11427/14880en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationMacGregor, Hayley, and Elizabeth Mills "Framing rights and responsibilities: accounts of women with a history of AIDS activism." <i>BMC International Health and Human Rights</i> (2011) http://hdl.handle.net/11427/14880en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationMacGregor, H., & Mills, E. (2011). Framing rights and responsibilities: accounts of women with a history of AIDS activism. BMC international health and human rights, 11(Suppl 3), S7.en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Journal Article AU - MacGregor, Hayley AU - Mills, Elizabeth AB - BACKGROUND: In South Africa, policy with respect to HIV/AIDS has had a strong rights-based framing in line with international trends and in keeping with the constitutional overhaul in the post-Apartheid era. There have also been considerable advances since 1994 towards legal enshrinement of sexual and reproductive health rights and in the provision of related services. Since HIV in this setting has heavily affected women of reproductive age, there has been discussion about the particular needs of this subgroup, especially in the context of service integration. This paper is concerned with the way in which HIV positive women conceptualise these rights and whether they wish and are able to actualise them in their daily lives. METHODS: In 2003 a group of women involved with the Treatment Action Campaign and Medicines Sans Frontieres participated in an initiative to 'map' their bodies as affected by the virus. A book containing the maps and narratives was published and used as a political tool to pressure the government of the day to roll out antiretroviral therapy (ART) to the population. In 2008, the authors coordinated an initiative that involved conducting follow-up in-depth interviews in which five of these women reflected on those body maps and on how their lives had changed in the intervening five years since gaining the right to treatment through the public sector. RESULTS: Drawing upon this qualitative data and published sources, these new accounts are analysed in order to reflect the perspectives of these women living with chronic HIV with respect to their sexual relations and fertility desires. The paper reveals difficulties faced by these women in negotiating sexual relationships and disclosure of their HIV positive status. It focuses on how they perceive relative responsibilities in terms of taking preventative measures in sexual encounters. Women adopt tactics within a context characterised by various inequalities in order to 'make do', such as by remaining silent about their status. Concerns about childbearing can be addressed by information and support from a health care worker. CONCLUSIONS: Women's experience of HIV as a chronic illness and the need to adhere to ART, is linked to the way in which the language of responsibility can come to counter-balance a language of rights in treatment programmes. DA - 2011 DB - OpenUCT DO - 10.1186/1472-698X-11-S3-S7 DP - University of Cape Town J1 - BMC International Health and Human Rights LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2011 T1 - Framing rights and responsibilities: accounts of women with a history of AIDS activism TI - Framing rights and responsibilities: accounts of women with a history of AIDS activism UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/14880 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/14880
dc.identifier.urihttp://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1472-698X-11-S3-S7
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationMacGregor H, Mills E. Framing rights and responsibilities: accounts of women with a history of AIDS activism. BMC International Health and Human Rights. 2011; http://hdl.handle.net/11427/14880.en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisherBioMed Central Ltden_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentAids and Society Research Uniten_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Humanitiesen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.rightsThis is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licenseen_ZA
dc.rights.holder2011 MacGregor and Mills; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.en_ZA
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0en_ZA
dc.sourceBMC International Health and Human Rightsen_ZA
dc.source.urihttp://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcinthealthhumrights/en_ZA
dc.subject.othersexual and reproductive healthen_ZA
dc.subject.otherHIV positive women, antiretroviral therapy (ART)en_ZA
dc.subject.otherHIV, sexual relationships, women rightsen_ZA
dc.subject.othergender equalityen_ZA
dc.titleFraming rights and responsibilities: accounts of women with a history of AIDS activismen_ZA
dc.typeJournal Articleen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceArticleen_ZA
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