Sociocultural Concept of HIV and its Impact on the Receipt of Health Promotion Campaigns in Medellín

Introduction: Since the moment in which the  rst cases of Acquired Immuno-De ciency Syndrome (aids) appeared in the United States in 1981, a stigma was built around the disease which created the social and cultural concept and imagery surrounding the condition. This linked the acquisition of the Human Immunode ciency Virus (ihv)—the virus that triggers the syndrome— to limited population groups, which in turn led to a limited impact of health promotion campaigns addressing it. Objective: To understand the sociocultural impact of the hiv concept in the health promotion campaigns from the perception of some adults living with the disease in Medellin by 2012. Materials and methods: A qualitative research project with a historical and hermeneutic approach using the Grounded Theory method of Barney Glaser and Anselm Strauss. Data was obtained through interviews with 13 participants. The transcriptions were analyzed and catego- rized until reaching theoretical saturation. Results: According to key informants of the study, socio-cultural concepts that have been erected around hiv have become a barrier to access health services due to social stigma, religious signi cance and misnamed group risk associated with the virus. Discussion: The results obtained by a number of authors are consistent with those of this study since they state that the social and cultural concepts surrounding hiv make it more difficult to approach the disease, which in turn affects the health systems’ response to this epidemic.