'Living positHIVely in Tanzania'. The global dynamics of AIDS and the meaning of religion for international and local AIDS work

Hansjörg Dilger

Africa Spectrum, 2001, vol. 36, issue 1, 73-90

Abstract: AIDS work in Africa is to a great extent based on models which originated in North America or Europe and may be, for this reason, culturally inappropriate for the international setting. The global dynamics of AIDS work are explored in the paper with regard to a neglected topic of research: the care and support for people living with HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa. Referring to the concept of living positHIVely, the author describes where and how the model came into use, how it has later been appropriated by Tanzanian NGOs and how it shapes today the lives of PWHAs in the country's major town, Dar es Salaam. It is argued that, as religion plays an important role for the conceptions of illness and healing in Tanzania, religious-spiritual elements have contributed strongly to the understanding of a 'positive' life with HIV (Swahili: kuishi kwa matumaini = living with hope). The paper concludes by calling for an integrating approach in international and local AIDS work which takes into account both the working experiences from the North, as well as the cultural conceptions and circumstances that shape the respective contexts in which AIDS work takes place.

Date: 2001
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