Godfrey Siu

Godfrey obtained a Bachelor of Adult and Community Education (Hons) degree from Makerere University, Uganda in 2003, and a Master’s degree in International Health (M.I.H) from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark in 2004. He has since been working as an Assistant Lecturer/ Researcher at the Child Health and Development Centre (CHDC), Makerere University. His research areas have included Health Services Use, Health Communication, and the Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS in which he has specifically been looking at the Sexual and Reproductive Behavior of People Living with HIV and people’s experiences of using and living with HIV treatment (ART).

PhD Project: Masculinity and ART in Uganda (Supervised by Daniel Wight and Janet Seeley)
This PhD study aims to explore the relationship between local notions of masculinity and men’s response to symptoms of chronic stigmatised illnesses in a rural eastern Uganda. It will focus on men’s treatment seeking behaviour for HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis (TB). The goal is to take a critical look at masculinity as it is constructed, maintained and experienced by men in their private spaces (homes) and in public spaces or settings, and how these ideas of masculinity influence access to and use of antiretroviral therapy (ART) and TB treatment. In view of this, the study will focus on the following questions:

1) What are the local cultural construction, representations, maintenance and experience of masculinity among the Iteso men of Busia district?
2) How do men’s ideas and notions of masculinity influence their perception and understanding of symptoms of stigmatised chronic illnesses?
3) How do men respond to symptoms of stigmatised chronic illnesses, particularly of HIV/AIDS and TB?
4) What meanings do treatments for stigmatised chronic illnesses have for men; in particular what are their perceptions of kinds of AIDS treatment?