Médicaments, prophylaxie et chronicité: Le cas de l'utilisation des antirétroviraux pour le traitement et la prévention du VIH
Sous la direction du professeur Francesco Panese, Université de Lausanne
Medications are closely involved in the subjective experience of chronic diseases (i.e., chronic illnesses). This has particularly been so in the case of HIV treatment (Squire 2010), since the emergence of antiretroviral drugs in the 80s. Since 2008, medical authorities have recognized the efficacy of these drugs not only to treat the infection but also to prevent it, which represents a new kind of HIV prevention: drug prophylaxis. The first part of the research will establish a broad genealogy of drug prophylaxis, which includes all situations where drugs are used to prevent a disease in order to observe the logics of this prophylaxis. In the second part, two specific situations of HIV prophylaxis will be analysed in the context of French-speaking Switzerland: TasP, for Treatment as Prevention, and PrEP, for Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis. These case studies will allow to discuss the major reconfigurations generated by these new indications of well-known drugs, and particularly the importance of medication both in the biological and the social life of people.
According to a qualitative methodology, the research will draw on semi-directive interviews, observations, and critical analyses of medical literature.
