When HIV is ordinary and diabetes new: Remaking suffering in a South African Township
Open accessAbstract
Escalation of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) among urban South African populations disproportionately afflicted by HIV/AIDS presents not only medical challenges but also new ways in which people understand and experience sickness. In Soweto, the psychological imprints of political violence of the Apartheid era and structural violence of HIV/AIDS have shaped social and health discourses. Yet, as NCDs increasingly become part of social and biomedical discussions in South African townships, new frames for elucidating sickness are emerging. This article employs the concept of syndemic suffering to critically examine how 27 women living with Type 2 diabetes in Soweto, a township adjacent to Johannesburg known for socio-economic mobility as well as inequality, experience and understand syndemic social and health problems. For example, women described how reconstructing families and raising grandchildren after losing children to AIDS was not only socially challenging but also affected how they ate, and how they accepted and managed their diabetes. Although previously diagnosed with diabetes, women illustrated how a myriad of social and health concerns shaped sickness. Many related diabetes treatment to shared AIDS nosologies, referring to diabetes as 'the same' or 'worse'. These narratives demonstrate how suffering weaves a social history where HIV becomes ordinary, and diabetes new.
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Researchers such as Mendenhall et al. are bringing attention to NCDs and mental health conditions in countries where policies and research often prioritize infectious diseases or disease-specific interventions.
“Researchers, such as Mendenhall et al. [ 7 , 16 ], are bringing attention to NCDs and mental health conditions in countries where policies and research often prioritize infectious diseases or disease-specific interventions [ 17 ].”
From Syndemic contexts: findings from a review of research on non-communicable diseases and interviews with experts (2021) · cites this paper as [16]
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- Authors
- Mendenhall, E., & Norris, S. A.
- Affiliations
- Georgetown University (US)
- University of the Witwatersrand (ZA)
- Corresponding author
- Mendenhall, Emily
- Venue
- Global Public Health
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2015-02-02
- Volume
- 10
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 449-462
- ISSN
- 1744-1692 (ISSN-L)
- 1744-1706
- PMC
- PMC4353257
- OpenAlex
- W2092919190
- Semantic Scholar
- 0b757108de64d8e1c0dd93c0cb6ef2e820eb48c4
- Cited by
- 52
- References
- 30
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 1
- FWCI
- 3.37
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by-nc-nd
- Locations
- Global Public Health (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Department for International Development, UK Government (African Research Leader Scheme (UK))
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Infectious Diseases › HIV/AIDS Research and Interventions
- Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › HIV/AIDS Impact and Responses
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Emergency Medicine › HIV-related health complications and treatments
- Keywords
- type 2 diabetes, HIV/AIDS, non-communicable diseases, Soweto, illness narratives, structural violence, apartheid legacy, social construction of illness, health discourse
- MeSH terms
- War-Related Injuries, Adult, Aged, Depression, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2, Female, Humans, Interviews as Topic, Middle Aged, Politics, Social Problems, Socioeconomic Factors, South Africa, Stress, Psychological, Violence, Cohort Studies, HIV Infections, Comorbidity, Prevalence, Women's Health, Qualitative Research, Black People
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