"HIV and gender justice in South African contexts"

Nearly a quarter of a century into the post-apartheid democracy and since the realisation of the extent of the epidemic facing South Africa, the battle against HIV as part of a larger package of health and justice challenges is still very much with us. Despite a barrage of constitutional and legal efforts to address social and gender inequalities, the gap between commitments to and lived experience of gender equality is more than evident. Although it has long been acknowledged that the dynamics of HIV infection and impact are entwined with gender and racial class inequalities, both shaped by and exacerbating such disadvantages (as reiterated by the Fifth South African National HIV Prevalence, Incidence, Behaviour and Communication Survey, 2017), Courtenay Sprague's Gender and HIV in South Africa: Advancing Women's Health and Capabilities makes a strong argument for the contribution of social science, interdisciplinary research, and qualitative research to the larger public health scholarship on HIV.