Heterosexual men’s ghostly lives with AIDS in Colombia

Abstract

The latest UNAIDS report on the global matter of HIV/AIDS (Dangerous Inequalities: World AIDS Day Report, 2022) states that more than 750,000 men acquired HIV in 2021 alone, and HIV testing, treatment and viral suppression gaps are often larger among men than women. The report also invites to do more research to understand the correlation between masculine behaviors, testing, treatment, and prevention, and finally acknowledges that involving men at an early age in HIV and gender-based violence prevention programs that acknowledge the vast array of masculine identities is key to curve HIV infections among men and women worldwide. My research shows the life trajectories of self-identified straight HIV-positive men in Cali, Colombia, revealing dynamics of the HIV epidemic among an overseen population in a country and a region that focuses its HIV preventive and care services on traditional “at risk” populations but where the epidemic is clearly manifesting among the heterosexual population. Straight men in Cali, Colombia, are diagnosed with HIV either when passing through critical phases of diseases, such as tuberculosis or toxoplasmosis, or when their partners become pregnant and go through prenatal screening tests. Preventive tests are not part of medical protocols for heterosexual men even when they seek medical care for sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Once men are diagnosed with HIV, they have difficulties adhering to antiretroviral treatment (ART), which often drives men to relapse several times into AIDS’ phases increasing their chances of infecting other people and re-infecting themselves with new virus strains