Abstract:
As the papers in this thematic series have illustrated, the postnatal prevention of mother to child transmission of
HIV (PMTCT) strategy has struggled with lack of local relevance. In an attempt to increase our understanding of the
great dissonance between the policy intention and the experiences of the participants in concrete PMTCT programmes,
we will in these concluding remarks draw upon writings in institutional ethnography. Through the concept
of ‘global texts’ we reflect upon the scientific and ideological underpinnings of the WHO policy guidelines on
HIV and infant feeding, and the influence that this policy has had across multiple local settings. The particular
impact of the global postnatal PMTCT policy guidelines on the position of breastfeeding lies at the core of the
discussion.
