Imaginaries, biomedicine and normativity: an answer to the processes of HIV stigma and discrimination

Abstract

HIV treatment, as a problematic concerning collective health, requires new theoretical perspectives for its analysis. Objective: to reconstruct some imaginary matrixes, that shapes HIV infection, associated to normativity processes and formation of clinical knowledge; to exhibit consequen- ces; to articulate these matrixes with discrimination and stigmatization issues implicated in the diagnosis. Materials and methods: in-depth interviews were made to young people between 18 and 35 years and health professionals dedicated to the HIV/AIDS treatment in public hospitals, inthecitiesofSantaFeandParaná(Argentina).Results:biomedicaldiscourse essentialasnorm requirement and guarantor of standardization exercise in individuals and populations from the binomial normal/pathologic affects the diagnosis appropriation and coping with the infection. Conclusion: from the results, it is possible to understand stigmatization and discrimination pro- cesses, like privileged mechanisms that mediate in the configuration of HIV normativity dis- cursive. Moreover, it is clear that the prevalent rejection in young people to undergo diagnostic test, and the difficulties in accessing health services, is a consequence of the indicated processes.

Keywords

• HIV/AIDS
• social imaginaries
• norm
• stigmatization
• discrimination
• biomedical discourse.