Peer Educator's and Aids in South Africa
Lacey Graves
Ant 205
11-10-12
Peer Educator’s and AIDS in South Africa
Acquired ImmunoDeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is a worldwide disease. It is a problem many have tried to solve. Since its discovery in the early eighties, there have been more than 25 million people who have died due to this disease. This number is not the total of deaths from AIDS; it is the total number of people that have died due to complications of the disease. Often the death certificate states pneumonia, tuberculosis, infections, and a plethora of other common illness that devastate a person living with this disease rather than AIDS. When AIDS was discovered it was thought to be a strictly homosexual’s disease. In the early eighties, the only cases reported of this new disease were homosexual, usually white, men. There was a severe epidemic in the San Francisco area of California. This epidemic received worldwide attention. At this time very few doctors knew what they were dealing with. This lack of knowledge lead to many mistakes and myths about origins and causes of this disease. The lack of information and misunderstandings made people diagnosed with this disease” black listed”. Often they were ostracized from their friends and family and eventually died alone in a hospital surrounded by nurses and doctors that did not understand and often feared them. It was a confusing and a new time in America. As America was slowly learning about this new disease, new reports were popping up worldwide. Every new case revealed new information for doctors and researchers. It did not take long to learn that AIDS was a human disease. No matter a person’s color, religion, sexual preference, or success; all could be infected. South Africans were no different. In Africa, AIDS was also known as a homosexual disease. Many gay men suffered much the same way as gay men in the United States. They were outcasts, treated poorly in hospitals and usually died alone. The
Ant 205
11-10-12
Peer Educator’s and AIDS in South Africa
Acquired ImmunoDeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is a worldwide disease. It is a problem many have tried to solve. Since its discovery in the early eighties, there have been more than 25 million people who have died due to this disease. This number is not the total of deaths from AIDS; it is the total number of people that have died due to complications of the disease. Often the death certificate states pneumonia, tuberculosis, infections, and a plethora of other common illness that devastate a person living with this disease rather than AIDS. When AIDS was discovered it was thought to be a strictly homosexual’s disease. In the early eighties, the only cases reported of this new disease were homosexual, usually white, men. There was a severe epidemic in the San Francisco area of California. This epidemic received worldwide attention. At this time very few doctors knew what they were dealing with. This lack of knowledge lead to many mistakes and myths about origins and causes of this disease. The lack of information and misunderstandings made people diagnosed with this disease” black listed”. Often they were ostracized from their friends and family and eventually died alone in a hospital surrounded by nurses and doctors that did not understand and often feared them. It was a confusing and a new time in America. As America was slowly learning about this new disease, new reports were popping up worldwide. Every new case revealed new information for doctors and researchers. It did not take long to learn that AIDS was a human disease. No matter a person’s color, religion, sexual preference, or success; all could be infected. South Africans were no different. In Africa, AIDS was also known as a homosexual disease. Many gay men suffered much the same way as gay men in the United States. They were outcasts, treated poorly in hospitals and usually died alone. The
Cited: Dickinson, David. Changing the Course of AIDS: Peer Education in South Africa and Its Lessons for the Global Crisis. Ithaca: ILR, 2009. Print. Lawson, Lesley. Side Effects: The Story of AIDS in South Africa. Cape Town: Double Storey, 2008. Print. McElroy, Ann, and Patricia K. Townsend. Medical Anthropology in Ecological Perspective. 5th ed. Boulder, CO: Westview, 2009. Print. "Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1 June 2001. Web. 5 Nov. 2012. <http://www.cdc.gov/>. Nattrass, Nicoli. The Moral Economy of AIDS in South Africa. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge UP, 2004. Print. South Africa. International Finance Corporation. HIV/AIDS. HIV AIDS Guide for the Mining Sector. By Rose Smart. Washington D.C.: Golder Associates, 2004. HIV AIDS Guide for the Mining Sector. Golder Associates LTD, 2004. Web. 7 Nov. 2012. <http://www.ifc.org/>. State of Denial. Dir. Elaine Epstein. PBS, 2003. PBS Web Site.