spirit and healing in africa - University of the Free State

4.1.1 History of HIV/AIDS in Africa
The inception of the discourse on HIV/AIDS in the African context dates back to the 1980s, the
period in which AIDS was discovered and recognized in some African countries. The sudden
increase of reported cases without specific symptoms or clearly identifiable physical injuries
made epidemiologists realize that they were dealing with a new kind of disastrous epidemic. This
stage is usually referred to as the start of the history and the unfolding of the epidemic — even
though the proto-history of AIDS actually goes back to the end of the 1950s.
Logically, the discovery by epidemiologists determined the HIV/AIDS discourse in a profound
way: the epidemiological history of HIV/AIDS was considered the most important factor in the
construction of a time frame that was necessary for those battling HIV/AIDS to understand what
had happened in the past. The epidemiological periodization of AIDS usually distinguishes three
phases: the phase of denial (1980s), the phase of slow and top-down response (beginning of the
1990s), and the current phase that is characterized by a broadened attention to what is happening
at the grassroots level combined with a broader outreach to those who need medication,
treatment and care. The epidemiological periodization also mirrors the periodization based on
national and international responses to HIV/AIDS, whereby this third phase is heavily defined by
massive financial injections of global funds and foreign organizations.
The construction of a time frame is by definition an artificial and conventionalized arrangement
that aims to clarify the matter at stake. In the past few years, the current time frame of the
HIV/AIDS discourse has received some criticism from experts of disciplines other than
biomedicine. The main reason for their criticism is that the epidemiological periodization reflects
a fabricated and somewhat one-sided arrangement of phases of the epidemic. While it is clear
that the main focus of epidemiologists has resulted in the construction of a time line that keeps
track of the major changes within the HIV/AIDS epidemic, it is also obvious that the dominant
time frame does not facilitate a clear view on alternative or additional developments taking place
within the history of HIV/AIDS in Africa.
In response to the construction of a history of HIV/AIDS in Africa based on an epidemiology,
alternative histories have emerged. These have tended to focus on the social and cultural notions
of HIV/AIDS in Africa in order to provide a more balanced frame of reference (see for example
Kalipeni et.al. 2004; Lwanda 2005; Denis 2006). They tend also to have a more contextual
focus: the social actors and authorities are the ones who interpret, situate and respond to the
epidemic, so they are the ones who determine the periodization of AIDS. Denis (2006:21) states
that the history of AIDS in Africa should not only be based on official levels of HIV prevalence,
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