AIDS/HIV

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), can be transmitted through unprotected sexual intercourse, sharing contaminated needles and syringes, mother to child (perinatal) and contaminated blood product (National Association of Health Authorities, 1988).

1.2 PURPOSE OF THE RESEARCH

Late HIV diagnosis remains a major problem among black Africans in England. In 2007, about 42 per cent of black Africans diagnosed with HIV were diagnosed late (HPA, 2008a). This compromises their survival chances because evidence indicates that starting treatment with a CD4 cell count below 200 copies/mm3 (a measure of the degree to which an individual’s immune system is compromised) increases the risk of disease progression and death (Gazzard, 2008). The reasons for late diagnosis among black Africans are not clear, but include persistent HIV-related stigma and discrimination (WHO, 2006). Fakoya et al. (2008) identified cultural, social and structural barriers, such as access to testing and care, fear of death and disease, lack of political will, restrictive immigration policies and lack of African representation in decision-making processes.

There is a desperate need to understand the social context of the disease both in terms of the migrants' region of origin as well as in their new United Kingdom (UK) communities. The British government is yet to address the steep rise in rates of the disease among heterosexuals and a new Aids awareness campaign targeted at those most at risk of spreading it is imperative. It is a campaign that the government is reluctant to undertake because of the sensitivities around immigration, race and perceptions of neo-colonialism (Chinouya and Davidson, 2003).

The prevalence of diagnosed HIV in black African and bl...

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...n found that higher levels of knowledge, perception of risk, and having a friend or relative with AIDS were associated with effective behaviour change (Sambisa 2008). The notion behind personal experience or knowing someone who is infected is that for some people HIV/AIDS does not become real, or denial is preferable including denial of risk, until one witnesses someone ill or dying of AIDS. This means that trying to shift people’s perception of risk in order that they choose behaviours that are safe requires a detailed understanding of culture, context of perception, and experience of risk (Kesby, et al., 2003). This is related to the fact that ‘culture’ in its anthropological sense, is a complex interplay of meanings, action, structure, and change that exist within all social relations and in all social settings (Mayisha II Collaborative Group 2005).