South Africa has one of the highest HIV prevalence rates in the world, with women and girls bearing the greatest burden. Although HIV preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is effective, data on its implementation in rural South Africa remain limited. Our study explores how female nurses in Msinga, South Africa, navigate communal hopes and anxieties regarding PrEP for women. Using an intersectional framework, we conducted semistructured interviews with health care providers and engaged in thematic analysis with a sample of female nurses employed in Msinga, South Africa, to understand their perspectives on PrEP and HIV’s impact on their communities. Four major themes emerged: (a) rural poverty’s impact on women, (b) the enduring role of traditional medicine, (c) discordance between community knowledge and practice, and (d) communal hopes and PrEP accessibility. Nurses in Msinga, South Africa, highlighted PrEP’s potential for women, particularly young girls, emphasizing the need for gender-specific, community-based PrEP implementation to address HIV in rural South African communities.
“An HIV Free Generation”: A qualitative inquiry into mapping intersectional discourses of preexposure prophylaxis for women among female nurses in rural South Africa
Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care [Epub 2025 Sep 5]. doi: 10.1097/JNC.0000000000000583.