Religion Networks and HIV in Rural Malawi

Many scholars have theorized a relationship between religious organizations and the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Religious organizations have alternately been identified both as a primary obstacle to AIDS care and HIV prevention, and as potentially effective partners in combating further spread of the disease and treating those presently infected. To date, however, there have been no empirical analyses of these competing claims, as the few studies dealing with religion and HIV have focused almost exclusively on the relationship between individual religious affiliation or participation and subsequent behaviors, attitudes and risk. This paper describes a data collection effort intended to address these issues. These data from three districts of rural Malawi will be used to explore the role religious organizations play in HIV intervention and prevention by (1) comparing the content of HIV-related messages at the national denomination and local congregation levels, (2) exploring the network structure within which congregation leaders develop their HIV-related discourse, and (3) examining the influence of individuals' religious networks on risk network structure.