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Journal article
The countersyndemic potential of medical pluralism among people living with HIV in Tanzania
Global Public Health, Vol.17(6), pp.957-970
2021
PMID: 33571067
Web of Science ID: WOS:000617192100001
Abstract
HIV and emotional distress often co-occur and interact in syndemic clusters with social, political, and economic factors that amplify the ‘syndemic suffering’ of individuals. In this paper, I describe how HIV+ women seeking antiretroviral therapy (ART) at a hospital in northern Tanzania engaged with plural methods of healing to ease suffering and address the multiple dimensions of illness. I explain the case of a famous faith healer at the time of research from 2011–12, ‘Babu wa Loliondo,’ from whom a third of the women interviewed – 25 of 75 –sought care in addition to their ART. These women experienced significantly fewer symptoms of emotional distress compared with those women who did not, suggesting that either those who sought his care were already healthier, or one strategy for coping – engagement with medical pluralism – played a role in buffering against syndemic HIV and emotional distress.
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Details
- Title
- The countersyndemic potential of medical pluralism among people living with HIV in Tanzania
- Publication Details
- Global Public Health, Vol.17(6), pp.957-970
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publisher
- Routledge; Abingdon, UK
- Grant note
- This work was supported by a Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad (DDRA) fellowship: [Grant Number P022A100047].
- Identifiers
- WOS:000617192100001; 99380090878206600
- Academic Unit
- Anthropology; College of Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities
- Language
- English