Volume 23 - Article 32 | Pages 905–932  

Asking God about the date you will die: HIV testing as a zone of uncertainty in rural Malawi

By Amy Kaler, Susan Watkins

Abstract

Testing for HIV is becoming more available in Africa. Global advocates of testing see it as key to AIDS prevention. However, testing is not always perceived as a good thing by people at risk. Here, we consider testing from the perspective of people in a high-prevalence community. Using qualitative data from rural Malawi, we show that the decision to test is not as straightforward as suggested in the testing advocacy literature, but is marked by uncertainty and ambivalence. Reluctance to test is connected to the perception that testing inevitably leads to a positive diagnosis, and subsequent deterioration and death. This fear is in turn linked to overestimation of the transmissibility of HIV. We recommend that testing advocates address this concern that being tested means having a death sentence pronounced, and emphasize the benefits of testing for the majority who are HIV-negative, as well as the minority who are HIV-positive.

Author's Affiliation

• Amy Kaler - University of Alberta, Canada EMAIL
• Susan Watkins - University of Pennsylvania, United States of America EMAIL

Other articles by the same author/authors in Demographic Research

The more you learn the less you know? Interpretive ambiguity across three modes of qualitative data
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The Malawi Diffusion and Ideational Change Project 2004-06: Data collection, data quality, and analysis of attrition
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A summary of Special Collection 1: Social Interactions and HIV/AIDS in Rural Africa
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"Moving" and Marrying: Modelling HIV Infection among Newly-weds in Malawi
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Introduction to "Research on Demographic Aspects of HIV/AIDS in Rural Africa"
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