Has the social justice approach become pervasive as a tool for fighting HIV in women? The case of Zambia

OBJECTIVE: Research has constantly shown how gender-based social inequality in countries like Zambia leads to disproportionately higher HIV prevalence rates among women aged 15 to 45 years old. As a response to this, the social justice approach in HIV response has become gold standard. Despite its continued application, little is known about how this approach is received and experienced by the people it is meant to serve. Thus the aim of this study is to fill this gap by investigating Zambian women’s interpretation and experience with the social justice approach as a tool for fighting HIV infection. RESULTS: The social justice movement’s role in highlighting different gender-based social inequalities was praised by our participants; however, there are several ways its application proved counterproductive in the context of Zambia. Thus, in many ways our respondents remained repugnant to the approach thereby closing down opportunities for fighting social inequality and HIV. Overall, our findings indicate that rather than definitively establishing the social justice approach as an incontestable good, there is more to benefit from paying attention to the diverse ways it is viewed by people it is meant to serve.