The Countersyndemic Potential of Medical Pluralism among People Living with HIV in Tanzania

HIV and emotional distress often co-occur and interact in syndemic clusters with social, political, and economic factors that amplify the 'syndemic suffering' of individuals. In this paper, I describe how HIV+ women seeking antiretroviral therapy (ART) at a hospital in northern Tanzania engaged with plural methods of healing to ease suffering and address the multiple dimensions of illness. I explain the case of a famous faith healer at the time of research from 2011-12, 'Babu wa Loliondo,' from whom a third of the women interviewed - 25 of 75 - sought care in addition to their ART. These women experienced significantly fewer symptoms of emotional distress compared with those women who did not, suggesting that either those who sought his care were already healthier, or one strategy for coping - engagement with medical pluralism - played a role in buffering against syndemic HIV and emotional distress.