On the present and future of the HIV/Aids epidemic: combination prevention in question

Abstract

Much is discussed about the current stage of the HIV/ Aids epidemic in Brazil. Official data from the Ministry of Health points to the stabilization of the epidemic; however, researchers and international organizations point to its reemergence. At a global level, the UN claims that it is possible to eradicate the epidemics by 2030. In this article, we present the work of translating practices that encompasses dialogue between the official, global and national narratives. Two central methodological strategies were adopted: interviews and documentary research. The analysis and discussion of the results were carried out based on sociological procedures: sociology of emergencies and ecology of knowledge, referenced in Boaventura de Sousa Santos, to identify what emerges in the diversity of experiences, global, national and local, as a response to the epidemics of HIV/ Aids, with a focus on analysis and reflections on combined prevention. We identified that prevention was the most neglected stage of care, and that there are divergences between the expectations of institutions and local actors about the possibilities of eradicating the epidemics. We conclude that the Combined Prevention model proposed by the Ministry of Health in the “Combined Prevention Mandala” diagram is insufficient and we propose an alternative graphic representation, based on the possibilities that emerged from the translation work.