They can really see through me now? Introduction In this post, I'll introduce you to Molecular HIV Surveillance (MHS) in the way that I learned about it. I had just began graduate school, in 2018- the same year MHS was rolled out as part of the CDC’s unprecedented investment in public health systems to “ End the Epidemic”. The introduction of new surveillance technologies required reorganizing at state and local health departments, so MHS and Cluster Detection and Response (CDR) infrastructure could be especially equipped to fulfill their functions. This was a funding requisite of the Ending the Epidemic package (or a Trojan Horse, depending on your perspective). It was 2018, I was a Research Intern in the Division of Disease Prevention, working across departments on epidemiological projects, including sambas and CDR efforts; and I had special access to shadow the teams. I was also participating in policy analysis, and, of course, (forever a student of culture) a st...
Writings in Anthropology & Public Health