“She was given her own plate, her own cup, everything of her own, even
when she just touched a cloth then nobody wanted to touch it again.”
(Halima, HIV-seropositive) The book sheds light on the profound
influence of an HIV-seropositive diagnosis on the lives of women and
their social environment in the United Republic of Tanzania. The author,
a medical doctor and social anthropologist, tells the story of six
Tanzanian HIV-seropositive women, focusing on their negotiation and
perception of illness and disease. Furthermore, the high levels of
discrimination and stigmatization in the context of HIV-seropositivity
that they experience are presented in detail, weaving together the
impacts of an HIV-seropositive diagnosis with results analyzed both from
a Medical Anthropology and Public Health perspective. Despite a new era
of antiretroviral treatment, available in Tanzania free of cost, that
has given cause for hope in a change in how the disease is perceived,
the book impressively underlines that being HIV-seropositive remains a
great challenge and heavy burden for women in Tanzania.