"Vibrant Entanglements": HIV Biomedicine and Serodiscordant Couples in Papua New Guinea. Issue 3 (3rd April 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Persson, Asha; Kelly-Hanku, Angela; Bell, Stephen; Mek, Agnes; Worth, Heather; Nake Trumb, Richard
• Is Part Of: Medical anthropology. Volume 38:Issue 3(2019)
• Page Start: 267
• Page End: 281
• Publication Date: 2019-04-03
• Subjects: Papua New Guinea -- global biomedical technologies -- HIV serodiscordant couples -- local contexts -- vibrant entanglements; Medical anthropology -- Periodicals; 362.1
• DOI: 10.1080/01459740.2018.1530670
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0145-9740

Abstract

ABSTRACT: The global ambition to "end AIDS" hinges on the universal uptake of HIV treatment-as-prevention and is undergirded by the assumption that biomedical technologies have consistent, predictable effects across highly diverse settings. But as anthropologists argue, such technologies are actively transformed by their local encounters, with various constitutive effects. How priority populations, such as HIV "serodiscordant" couples, negotiate treatment-as-prevention remains relatively unknown. We consider the "vibrant entanglements" that can shape couples' engagement with global biomedical technologies in the local context of Papua New Guinea (PNG)—a relatively uncharted biomedical landscape—and what we hope our current research in this setting will achieve.