The persistence of HIV stigma in Kenya

Abstract

Through a collection of contextual anecdotal evidence and diligent examination, Viral frictions: global health and the persistence of HIV stigma in Kenya, written by Elizabeth J Pfeiffer carefully analyses the ongoing stigma that persists around HIV and AIDS in Kenya—specifically through a decade of research (2010–19) in a small town called Mahali. Pfeiffer is an Assistant Professor of anthropology at Rhode Island College (Providence, RI, USA) who specialises in medical anthropology, global health, and African studies. In her previous work, The cultural politics of secrecy during HIV home counselling and testing campaigns in Kenya (2021), she ethnographically investigated how biomedical and institutionalised global health knowledge and management of HIV overlap with the local cultural politics of secrecy in Kenya. She continues to explore this concept further in Viral frictions.