Article The Meaning of AIDS-Related Deaths in an Urban Town in Ghana Fidelia N. A. Ohemeng 1 Abstract HIV/AIDS has claimed the lives of many people, the majority of whom are young. In Ghana, about 200,000 people have lost their lives to the disease. While HIV/AIDS as a disease has enjoyed considerable academic scholarship, understanding how people make sense of death has not received adequate academic attention. This article explores the meaning of death resulting from AIDS in an urban town in Ghana. The views of 25 persons living with HIV/AIDS were solicited through in-depth inter- views. Additional data were obtained from focus group discussions with members of the community in which the 25 persons were interviewed. The findings indicate that death from AIDS is seen as disgraceful and shameful. The meaning of AIDS deaths was based on the fact that HIV/AIDS is a metaphor for moral decadence. This image is subsequently projected onto its death. The classification of AIDS death as dis- graceful and shameful may have implications for the funeral rites of AIDS patients, while at the same time affecting prevention and treatment. Keywords social meaning of AIDS-related deaths, HIV/AIDS, Ghana The HIV/AIDS pandemic is a major health crisis in the world. Nearly 65 million people have been infected and more than 20 million have lost their lives. The Joint United Nations Commission on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS, 2012) indicates that 34.2 million people were living with HIV/AIDS and 1.7 million people Illness, Crisis & Loss 2016, Vol. 24(4) 261–278 ! The Author(s) 2015 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/1054137315592756 icl.sagepub.com 1 Department of Sociology, University of Ghana, Legon–Accra, Ghana Corresponding Author: Fidelia N. A. Ohemeng, Department of Sociology, University of Ghana, P. O. Box LG 65, Legon, Accra, Ghana. Email: fohemeng@ug.edu.gh