Aids phobia (Aizibing kongjuzheng) and the people who panic about aids (kong’ai zu): The consequences of hiv representations in china

All across the globe, stories of HIV are not simply about illness. Frequently, they speak of structural violence, suffering and inequality, but they may also show how individuals and communities transform adversity and pain into narratives of resilience and strength. Stories of HIV are often fraught with the ideological struggles that unfold when global health and disease research priorities and governmental aid dollars are pitted against-and usually prioritized over-local knowledge and approaches. The general triumph of biomedicine and Western development practice in managing and understanding HIV has placed great importance on both quantification (numbers of people tested, HIV positive, NGOs, and activists), investigation (program transparency and efficacy), and democratic processes (civil society). In this process, the individual voices and experiences of the people who have HIV are sometimes lost or misrepresented. Additionally, as funds earmarked for particular interventions have not always been delivered in ways that satisfy donors, reports on the successes and failures of HIV interventions or evaluations of increasing rates of HIV infection may also tell of perceived inadequacies in the developing world. Such judgments may be underwritten by racist and sexist beliefs, intolerance and Western-centric governance and research strategies. These tensions shape understandings of the virus and those who carry it, and interventions into its spread. Their outcomes frequently have deep and unintended consequences for local communities.