Chronicity, crisis, and the 'end of AIDS'

• Published in: Global public health Vol. 13; no. 8; pp. 982 - 996
• Main Author: Sangaramoorthy, Thurka
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Taylor & Francis 03.08.2018; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Acquired immune deficiency syndrome; Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome - psychology; Adolescent; Adult; Aged; ageing; Aging; AIDS; Chronic Disease - psychology; chronicity; Crises; Discourses; Disease Eradication; Female; health inequity; Health research; HIV; HIV/AIDS; Human immunodeficiency virus; Humans; International finance; Interviews as Topic; Investments; Male; Medical research; Medical treatment; Middle Aged; Political finance; Prevention; Preventive medicine; Public health; Qualitative Research; Uncertainty; United States; Young Adult; United States; HIV/AIDS; chronicity; ageing; United States; health inequity
• ISSN: 1744-1692; 1744-1706
• DOI: 10.1080/17441692.2018.1423701

In biomedical, public health, and popular discourses, the 'end of AIDS' has emerged as a predominant way to understand the future of HIV research and prevention. This approach is predicated on structuring and responding to HIV in ways that underscore its presumed lifelong nature. In this article, I examine the phenomenon of HIV chronicity that undergirds the 'end of AIDS' discourse. In particular, I explore how the logic of HIV chronicity, induced by technological advances in treatment and global financial and political investments, intensifies long-term uncertainty and prolonged crisis. Focusing on over 10 years of anthropological and public health research in the United States, I argue that HIV chronicity, and subsequently, the 'end of AIDS' discourse, obscure the on-going HIV crisis in particular global communities, especially among marginalised and ageing populations who live in under-resourced areas. By tracing the 'end of AIDS' discourse in my field sites and in other global locations, I describe how HIV chronicity signals a continuing global crisis and persistent social precarity rather than a 'break' with a hopeless past or a promising future free from AIDS.