1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910786117103321

Autore

Van Hollen Cecilia Coale

Titolo

Birth in the age of AIDS [[electronic resource] ] : women, reproduction, and HIV/AIDS in India / / Cecilia Van Hollen

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Stanford, Calif., : Stanford University Press, c2013

ISBN

0-8047-8614-3

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (289 p.)

Disciplina

362.19697/9200954

Soggetti

AIDS (Disease) in pregnancy - India

AIDS (Disease) - Social aspects - India

Childbirth - Social aspects - India

HIV infections - Transmission - India - Prevention

HIV-positive women - Services for - India

Medical anthropology - India

Pregnant women - Services for - India

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Front matter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Note on Statistics and Transliteration -- Abbreviations -- Prologue. Into the Well and Out Again -- 1. Birth in the Age of AIDS -- 2. India Responds to the Epidemic -- 3. “The HIV Test Is Like an Immunization” -- 4. “I Don’t Need My Husband’s Permission” -- 5. HIV/AIDS and the Gendering of Stigma -- 6. To Birth or Not to Birth? -- 7. HIV-Positive Women Give Birth -- 8. Breast or Bottle? -- 9. Creating a Storm -- Epilogue. Memory Boxes -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

Birth in the Age of AIDS is a vivid and poignant portrayal of the experiences of HIV-positive women in India during pregnancy, birth, and motherhood at the beginning of the 21st century. The government of India, together with global health organizations, established an important public health initiative to prevent HIV transmission from mother to child. While this program, which targets poor women attending public maternity hospitals, has improved health outcomes for infants, it has resulted in sometimes devastatingly negative consequences for poor, young mothers because these women are being



tested for HIV in far greater numbers than their male spouses and are often blamed for bringing this highly stigmatized disease into the family. Based on research conducted by the author in India, this book chronicles the experiences of women from the point of their decisions about whether to accept HIV testing, through their decisions about whether or not to continue with the birth if they test HIV-positive, their birthing experiences in hospitals, decisions and practices surrounding breast-feeding vs. bottle-feeding, and their hopes and fears for the future of their children.