A Fraught Embrace: The Romance and Reality of AIDS Altruism in Africa, by A. Swidler and S. Cotts Watkins

Abstract

Using the case of Malawi, the book by A. Swidler and S. Cotts Watkins, A Fraught Embrace: The Romance and Reality of AIDS Altruism in Africa, examines the implementations of programmes aimed at containing the spread of HIV/AIDS in Malawi. It also analyses the complex nature of professional relationships forged between donors and Malawians before, during and after the execution of antiHIV/AIDS programmes. Located in southeast Africa, Malawi borders Tanzania, Zambia, and Mozambique, and not Zimbabwe as the authors suggest. Still, Malawi is one of the countries severely affected by the AIDS epidemic in the southern African region. In 2018, close to 1 000 000 people were living with HIV and about 13 000 people died from AIDS-related illness in Malawi.1