Gender and HIV in South Africa - Advancing Women's Health and Capabilities

This book addresses the ongoing problem of HIV in black South African women as a health inequity. Importantly, it argues that this urgent problem of justice is changeable. Sprague uses the capabilities approach to bring a theory of health justice, together with multiple sources of evidence, to investigate the complex problem of HIV and accompanying poor health outcomes in black South African women. Motivated by a concern for application of knowledge, this work discusses how to better conceptualise what health justice demands of state and society, and how to mobilise available evidence on health inequities in ways that compel greater state action to address problems of gender and health. 
HIV in women, and possible responses, are investigated on four distinct levels: conceptual, social structure, health systems, and law. The analysis demonstrates that this problem is indeed modifiable with long-term interventions and an enhanced state response targeted at multiple levels.  This book will be of interest to academics and students in the social health sciences, gender and development studies, and global health, as well as HIV/health activists, government officials, policy makers, HIV clinicians and health providers interested in HIV.

List of contents

Introduction.- Part I. HIV, Gender and Health for Black South African Women.- 1. Health Outcomes, Social and Biological Factors Influencing Women's HIV Acquisition in Social Context.- 2. HIV Care: Prevailing Trends, Barriers and Paradoxes.- 3. Conceptualising Justice in Health as Opportunities to be Healthy (Capabilities).- Part II. Capabilities for Black South African Women: Gender as a Structural Health Determinant.- 4. Methodological Considerations and Research Methods to Advance Social Justice.- 5. Capabilities for Women Living with HIV: Linking Health Systems to Social Structure.- Part III. Moving from Evidence to Action.- 6. Gender-Transformative Structural Interventions to Advance South African Women's Capabilities.- 7. Assessing Equity in Health and Women's Opportunities to be Healthy.- Concluding Reflections: From Research to Policy and Practice.

About the author

Courtenay Spragueis Associate Professor in the Department of Conflict Resolution, Human Security & Global Governance, and the Department of Nursing at the University of Massachusetts Boston, USA. She holds a joint appointment with the Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa.

Summary

This book addresses the ongoing problem of HIV in black South African women as a health inequity. Importantly, it argues that this urgent problem of justice is changeable. Sprague uses the capabilities approach to bring a theory of health justice, together with multiple sources of evidence, to investigate the complex problem of HIV and accompanying poor health outcomes in black South African women. Motivated by a concern for application of knowledge, this work discusses how to better conceptualise what health justice demands of state and society, and how to mobilise available evidence on health inequities in ways that compel greater state action to address problems of gender and health. 

HIV in women, and possible responses, are investigated on four distinct levels: conceptual, social structure, health systems, and law. The analysis demonstrates that this problem is indeed modifiable with long-term interventions and an enhanced state response targeted at multiple levels.  This book will be of interest to academics and students in the social health sciences, gender and development studies, and global health, as well as HIV/health activists, government officials, policy makers, HIV clinicians and health providers interested in HIV.

Additional text

“Gender and HIV in South Africa is an ambitious and important book, written meticulously and with great empathy. … it presents an excellent overview for those who seek to understand Black women’s vulnerability to HIV, offering the kind of information and context (historical, political,

and legal) that is particularly useful for actors such as NGOs and policymakers working at the intersection of health and gender justice.” (Kathleen Rice, Gender & Development, Vol. 27 (3), 2019)

“The study’s multi-method approach and the engagement with key questions, drawing on a diverse range of knowledge sources—including pairing of large, quantitative datasets with empirical and original qualitative research—are particular strengths of the book. … Sprague invites researchers to extend themselves, to draw on the richness of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary dialogue in researching the complex landscape of HIV and gender.” (Tamara Shefer, The Lancet, Vol. 19 (2), February, 2019)

“This work is groundbreaking and urges the reader to reflect on the structural links between gender inequalities, HIV, health, and social justice. Readers cannot avoid re-thinking how they approach these issues. … This book should be read by everyone in the fields of justice, health equity, gender, and HIV. … it should be read by all health practitioners and policymakers because it challenges us to reflect on health care, women’s capabilities to realize health, and health equity.” (Samantha Willan, African Journal of AIDS Research, Vol. 17 (3),2018)

Report

"Gender and HIV in South Africa is an ambitious and important book, written meticulously and with great empathy. ... it presents an excellent overview for those who seek to understand Black women's vulnerability to HIV, offering the kind of information and context (historical, political,
and legal) that is particularly useful for actors such as NGOs and policymakers working at the intersection of health and gender justice." (Kathleen Rice, Gender & Development, Vol. 27 (3), 2019)
"The study's multi-method approach and the engagement with key questions, drawing on a diverse range of knowledge sources-including pairing of large, quantitative datasets with empirical and original qualitative research-are particular strengths of the book. ... Sprague invites researchers to extend themselves, to draw on the richness of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary dialogue in researching the complex landscape of HIV and gender." (Tamara Shefer, The Lancet, Vol. 19 (2), February, 2019)
"This work is groundbreaking and urges the reader to reflect on the structural links between gender inequalities, HIV, health, and social justice. Readers cannot avoid re-thinking how they approach these issues. ... This book should be read by everyone in the fields of justice, health equity, gender, and HIV. ... it should be read by all health practitioners and policymakers because it challenges us to reflect on health care, women's capabilities to realize health, and health equity." (Samantha Willan, African Journal of AIDS Research, Vol. 17 (3),2018)

Product details

• Authors: Courtenay Sprague
• Publisher: Springer Palgrave Macmillan
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 31.12.2019
• EAN: 9781349719419
• ISBN: 978-1-349-71941-9
• No. of pages: 404
• Dimensions: 148 mm x 23 mm x 210 mm
• Weight: 567 g
• Illustrations: XXX, 404 p. 10 illus.
• Subjects: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Medicine > General; Social sciences, law, business > Law > International law, foreign law; B, Gender Studies, Sociology, Human Rights, Africa, Social Sciences, Politics & government, Economic development, Social Justice, Gender studies, gender groups, African Politics, Social Justice, Equality and Human Rights, Development Studies, Africa—Politics and government, Development and Health