ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on a Central American case study where a member of population services international's global network, the Pan American Social Marketing Organisation, used ethnographic research to gather consumer insight to shape marketing planning process and programme design for a campaign to improve adherence to HIV treatment. It discusses the antiretroviral therapy treatment component of the programme and highlights how consumer insight was used to design a programme that would increase people's ability to access and adhere to antiretroviral therapy. The quality and experience of HIV testing and diagnosis varied across the countries and individuals. The period immediately following diagnosis and post-test counselling was critical, as it influenced people's process of coping with a positive diagnosis. Participants' narratives demonstrated that the identity assumed by those diagnosed with HIV is situational and dynamic. The participants described a process of self-regulating their medication, modifying their dosage or administration schedule to better fit within their lives or to decrease side effects.
