The August AIDS Forum hosted by the CSA will be addressed by Dr Isak Niehaus. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Bushbuckridge, Dr Niehaus argues that the association of AIDS with sexual promiscuity has not been the major source of its stigma. Instead, he suggests that denial, silence, fear and fatalism have stemmed from the construction of persons living with AIDS as “dead before dying”, and from their symbolic location in the anomalous domain betwixt-and-between life and death. In this process the notion that AIDS is a fatal terminal illness carries as much symbolic weight as the popular association of persons with AIDS with lepers and zombies.
Research conducted in many parts of the world and especially in Eastern and Southern Africa, has explored and established the relationship between HIV and human rights. Violations of human rights exacerbate the spread of the pandemic. The impact of HIV on individuals, communities, and countries is worsened by the inadequate protection and realisation of human rights. Acknowledging and addressing human rights violations should be a central element of the response to HIV and AIDS.
The Centre for the Study of AIDS at the University of Pretoria has launched its seventh AIDS Review, titled Bodies Count by Jonathan D. Jansen on 30 November 2007.
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