AIDS and Society Research Unit (ASRU)

ASRU supports qualitative and quantitative research on the social and economic dimensions of AIDS in South Africa. Its action research agenda originated in 2001 as the Memory Box Project - an intervention designed to help people come to terms with their diagnosis, disclose their HIV-status to their children and begin the process of succession planning. The focus of its research and projects has now shifted from 'preparing for death' to positive living. Current research initiatives engage with a number of related areas, such as stigma, sexual relationships in the age of AIDS, social and economic factors, influencing disclosure (of HIV-status to others), policy analysis with a focus on the rollout of antiretroviral treatment, impact of providing antiretroviral treatment on individuals and households