Local Pathways of “Serodiscordant Couples”: Unpacking a Global HIV Population Category in Papua New Guinea

Abstract

HIV prevention programs focus on global “key populations” and more localized “priority populations” to ensure effective targeting of interventions. These HIV population categories have been subject to considerable scholarly scrutiny, particularly key populations, with less attention given to critically unpacking priority populations at local levels, for example “serodiscordant couples” (one partner has HIV, but not the other). We examine this population in the context of Papua New Guinea to consider how local configurations, relational pathways, and lived realities of serodiscordant relationships strain the boundaries of this population category and raise intriguing questions about its intersection with contemporary biomedical agendas.