IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v60y2005i8p1729-1738.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

'My fear is to fall in love again...' How HIV-positive African women survive in London

Author

Listed:
  • Doyal, Lesley
  • Anderson, Jane

Abstract

Many studies are now documenting the circumstances of people living with HIV/AIDS in different parts of the world. We know an increasing amount about the experiences of women who make up the majority of those infected in countries in sub-Saharan Africa. However, very few researchers have examined the lives of female migrants from the region living with HIV. This article begins to fill that gap by exploring the situation of 62 women from different parts of Africa receiving treatment from the National Health Service in London. It is based on a qualitative study carried out between 2001 and 2002 using semi-structured interviews. The analysis explores the ways in which the women's lives are shaped in complex ways by their sex and gender, by their status as migrants and by their seropositivity. It examines the nature of their survival strategies, focusing mainly on the management of information, the use of health services and the importance of spirituality in their lives. The article concludes by highlighting the paradox whereby these women have access to treatment that would be unavailable in their own countries but their survival depends on them remaining in a country which few regard as 'home'.

Suggested Citation

  • Doyal, Lesley & Anderson, Jane, 2005. "'My fear is to fall in love again...' How HIV-positive African women survive in London," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 60(8), pages 1729-1738, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:60:y:2005:i:8:p:1729-1738
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277-9536(04)00448-4
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kesby, M. & Fenton, K. & Boyle, P. & Power, R., 2003. "An agenda for future research on HIV and sexual behaviour among African migrant communities in the UK," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 57(9), pages 1573-1592, November.
    2. Erwin, Jo & Peters, Barry, 1999. "Treatment issues for HIV+ Africans in London," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 49(11), pages 1519-1528, December.
    3. Lawless, Sonia & Kippax, Susan & Crawford, June, 1996. "Dirty, diseased and undeserving: The positioning of HIV positive women," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 43(9), pages 1371-1377, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Xiang Yan & Jie Du & GuoPing Ji, 2021. "Prevalence and factors associated with fertility desire among people living with HIV: A systematic review and meta-analysis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(3), pages 1-21, March.
    2. Leah East & Debra Jackson & Kath Peters & Louise O’Brien, 2010. "Disrupted sense of self: young women and sexually transmitted infections," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 19(13‐14), pages 1995-2003, July.
    3. Elzenir Pereira de Oliveira Almeida & Modesto Leite Rolim Neto, 2020. "The lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender movement: A systematic review with meta-analysis," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 66(2), pages 198-209, March.
    4. Cooper, Diane & Harries, Jane & Myer, Landon & Orner, Phyllis & Bracken, Hillary, 2007. ""Life is still going on": Reproductive intentions among HIV-positive women and men in South Africa," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 65(2), pages 274-283, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zhou, Yanqiu Rachel, 2007. ""If you get AIDS... You have to endure it alone": Understanding the social constructions of HIV/AIDS in China," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 65(2), pages 284-295, July.
    2. Marija Pantelic & Mark Boyes & Lucie Cluver & Mildred Thabeng, 2018. "‘They Say HIV is a Punishment from God or from Ancestors’: Cross-Cultural Adaptation and Psychometric Assessment of an HIV Stigma Scale for South African Adolescents Living with HIV (ALHIV-SS)," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 11(1), pages 207-223, February.
    3. Szu‐Szu Ho & Aisha Holloway, 2016. "The impact of HIV‐related stigma on the lives of HIV‐positive women: an integrated literature review," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(1-2), pages 8-19, January.
    4. Anderson, Moji & Elam, Gillian & Gerver, Sarah & Solarin, Ijeoma & Fenton, Kevin & Easterbrook, Philippa, 2008. "HIV/AIDS-related stigma and discrimination: Accounts of HIV-positive Caribbean people in the United Kingdom," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(5), pages 790-798, September.
    5. Loubiere, Sandrine & Peretti-Watel, Patrick & Boyer, Sylvie & Blanche, Jérôme & Abega, Séverin-Cécile & Spire, Bruno, 2009. "HIV disclosure and unsafe sex among HIV-infected women in Cameroon: Results from the ANRS-EVAL study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(6), pages 885-891, September.
    6. Marshall, Wende Elizabeth, 2005. "Aids, race and the limits of science," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 60(11), pages 2515-2525, June.
    7. Thomas, Felicity & Aggleton, Peter & Anderson, Jane, 2010. "'Experts', 'partners' and 'fools': Exploring agency in HIV treatment seeking among African migrants in London," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(5), pages 736-743, March.
    8. Class, Deena M., 2014. "Effects of HIV prevention messages on treatment-seeking and adherence for HIV-infected children in Maputo, Mozambique: A qualitative study," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 64-73.
    9. Valerie Møller & Ida Erstad & Dalinyebo Zani, 2010. "Drinking, Smoking, and Morality: Do ‘Drinkers and Smokers’ Constitute a Stigmatised Stereotype or a Real TB Risk Factor in the Time of HIV/AIDS?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 98(2), pages 217-238, September.
    10. Heidi Hoefinger & Srorn Srun, 2017. "“At-Risk” or “Socially Deviant”? Conflicting Narratives and Grassroots Organizing of Sex/Entertainment Workers and LGBT Communities in Cambodia," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 6(3), pages 1-20, August.
    11. Peretti-Watel, P. & Spire, B. & Schiltz, M.A. & Bouhnik, A.D. & Heard, I. & Lert, F. & Obadia, Y., 2006. "Vulnerability, unsafe sex and non-adherence to HAART: Evidence from a large sample of French HIV/AIDS outpatients," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(10), pages 2420-2433, May.
    12. Pound, Pandora & Britten, Nicky & Morgan, Myfanwy & Yardley, Lucy & Pope, Catherine & Daker-White, Gavin & Campbell, Rona, 2005. "Resisting medicines: a synthesis of qualitative studies of medicine taking," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 133-155, July.
    13. Sanders, Teela, 2006. "Female sex workers as health educators with men who buy sex: Utilising narratives of rationalisations," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(10), pages 2434-2444, May.
    14. Liamputtong, Pranee & Haritavorn, Niphattra & Kiatying-Angsulee, Niyada, 2009. "HIV and AIDS, stigma and AIDS support groups: Perspectives from women living with HIV and AIDS in central Thailand," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(6), pages 862-868, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    HIV/AIDS African women UK;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:60:y:2005:i:8:p:1729-1738. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.