Dilemmas of Patient Expertise: People Living with HIV as Peer Educators in a Ghanaian Hospital

Abstract

This article analyses the work lives of formally trained peer educators in an HIV clinic at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi, Ghana. As HIV-positive persons and clients of the clinic, the peer educators have been trained in counselling and principles of basic hygiene to complement the work of health workers. They also provide a helping hand when the work at the clinic is too much for other healthcare providers. Drawing on data from fifteen months of ethnographic research in the VCT centre and ART clinic of the above mentioned hospital, it was found that, despite the wide range of services offered by peer educators, there is a general lack of recognition for their work by hospital authorities or health workers. By examining the frictions between differently positioned healthcare providers we demonstrate what is at stake for PLHIV peer educators in their daily work lives in an attempt to understand why they continue to work in the clinic despite lack of collegial recognition and not being paid for their work.