2019_EJRNL_PP_LESLIE BUTT_1
Terbatas Yanti Sri Rahayu, S.Sos
» ITB
Terbatas Yanti Sri Rahayu, S.Sos
» ITB
The province of Papua, Indonesia has one of the fastest growing rates of
HIV infection in Asia. Within volatile political conditions, HIV has reached generalized epidemic status for indigenous Papuans. This article explores the merits of
using the concept of local biologies as an analytic tool to assess the range of factors
which affect a local pattern of untreated HIV and rapid onset of AIDS. A research
team conducted 32 in-depth interviews with HIV-positive indigenous persons and
15 interviews with health care workers in urban and peri-urban sites in the central
highlands region. The results show fear of gossip and stigmatization, regional
political conditions and gaps in care interweave to create local biological conditions
of evasion of care and rapid onset of AIDS. The normative emphasis in contemporary scholarship on stigma as shaping subjective responses to HIV needs to be
complemented by a full assessment of the physiological impact of health services,
and the ways political conditions trickle down and mediate local biological patterns.
The concept of local biologies is highly effective for explaining the full scope of
possible factors affecting the intersection of social and physical realms for HIVpositive persons.