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FOUND 26
The AIDS response has taught the world the importance of protecting human rights and promoting gender equality when fighting a disease. COVID-19 has amplified that lesson. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, UNAIDS has repeated the call that governments must protect human rights and prevent and address gender-based violence—an issue that is even more vital now that lockdowns are putting women and girls at an even higher risk of intimate…
This report, submitted by the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights analyses the relationship between unpaid care work and poverty, inequality, and women's human rights. Additionally, the report clarifies the obligations of States, reminding them that failure to adequately support care contradicts their human rights obligations by creating and exacerbating inequalities and provides recommendations on how to…
In the first half of 2009, structured interviews were conducted with 1,366 volunteers providing care-giving in six African countries as part of the “Compensations for Contributions: Creating an enabling policy framework for effective home-base care” Initiative. This action research initiative sought to capture the realities of tens of thousands of grassroots women who struggle every day to provide care and support to people living with HIV and…
This Issue Paper addresses the implications of HIV/AIDS on women’s unpaid labour burden. The authors discuss care giving in the context of HIV/AIDS, care giving as women’s work, the impact this has on women and girls, as well as promoting community hom-based care as a policy response to HIV. The paper is followed by an article by Rania Antonopoulos, From Unpaid to Paid Care Work: The Macroeconomic Implications of HIV and AIDS on Women’s Time-Tax…
This review explores the specific issues that cluster around the provision of 'care' in the context of the global HIV/AIDS pandemic. The authors argue that the economic concept of the 'care economy' provides a useful lens through which to view the HIV/AIDS pandemic, as it illuminates the increased labour, time and other demands placed upon households and shows that the assumptions on which norms and expectations of care provision are based are…
In the first half of 2009, structured interviews were conducted with 1,366 volunteers providing care-giving in six African countries. The interviews were conducted as part of the “Compensations for Contributions: Creating an enabling policy framework for effective home-based care” initiative, a project supported by the UNDP-Japan partnership Fund. The aims of the research were to firstly, produce evidence of caregivers’ significant contribution…
This article considers the impact of AIDS on women's roles and responsibilities within the household 'care economy.' It emphasizes that all interventions aimed at reversing the epidemic need to take into account the excessive work-load that members of the household, usually women, shoulder in responding to the needs of sick family members. Most notably, gender equality and care economy issues need to be identified by development programmes…
This study was commissioned to understand the contexts in which home-based care and its variations is being provided in Uganda and South Africa, and to assess the gendered impacts that these programmes have on the members of the family and community as well as the organisations offering care for PLWHAs. This is intended to assist in designing policies and in the planning of home-based care programmes.
The study is a joint initiative of the Institute of Public Administration and UNIFEM South Asia Regional Office with an objective to understand the impact of HIV/AIDS entering the home and on the lives and livelihoods of women care givers in situations of poverty. Focusing on the existing coping mechanisms, the study is also attentive to short and long term policy initiatives needed to reduce the burden of care.
This briefing report describes how older people, particularly grandmothers, carry most of the emotional and financial burden as carers. Yet, their vital role is going unrecognized. This report calls for a major shift in the response to HIV/AIDS.
This paper based on findings from the KwaZulu-Natal Income Dynamics Study (KIDS) describes caregivers' perspectives on providing care for HIV positive family members. The paper focuses on understanding what care provision means to family caregivers and in turn why they provide care. More centrally it highlights various aspects of the experience of providing care and the effects of care on caregivers' lives. The report highlights the role…
This briefing note describes the linkages between women and HIV/AIDS, and the impact on national economies. In addition to young women being at greatest risk for transmission, women also bear the brunt of the costs of HIV/AIDS. Women's risks are exacerbated by poverty, low status and dependence on men. Women's lack of education fuels discrimination in the labour market, where women may also experience stigma or violence.
Meeting the needs of children affected by AIDS Millions of children across the world have already lost their mothers to AIDS. Millions more are caring for their sick mothers, knowing they will die soon. With proper support within their communities, mothers can be cared for in their homes, and continue to care for their children. Until now, support for children affected by AIDS has focused on orphans. In Missing Mothers: Meeting the needs of…
As with other chronic illnesses, the ideal AIDS care model is a holistic combination of public health, home and community care. The WHO believes that HIV/AIDS should be managed at home because home care is more comprehensive, more compassionate, less expensive and allows the patient to maintain a certain level of dignity and normality. However, caring for a family member with advanced HIV infection or AIDS is a physically challenging and…
There is a growing acknowledgment of the importance of the continuum of care and support services to people living with HIV/AIDS outside of health facilities. Greater reliance on women in the communities to provide care and support to people living with HIV/AIDS as well as non-complex maintenance and adherence support for treatment of those who are under antiretroviral treatment is seen as a way to alleviate the burden placed on traditional…
In 2004, the Horizons Program undertook a study of six different home-based care programs to provide key information to NGOs, government ministries, donors, and the programs themselves to inform decisions about service delivery. The study analyzed the cost of Home-Based Care services, the best use of resources, and how well programs are able to meet the needs of beneficiaries and their families.
This report presents the findings of research carried out in northern Thailand. It highlights the issues faced by older people affected by HIV/AIDS (including the burden of caregiving), the contributions they are making to their households, and the lack of services and support available to them. The report is intended for policy makers in government, donor organisations, civil society and age care organisations to help them better understand the…
This report presents the key issues facing older women and men affected by HIV/AIDS in Tanzania, including their role in providing care and support to their sons and daughters living with HIV/AIDS and to their grandchildren. It draws on participatory research with older people, community leaders, government officials and young people in five regions of Tanzania. The report includes recommendations to help policy makers, programme planners and…
This issue looks at the devastating impact that HIV/AIDS is having on older people. In particular, growing numbers of older people are caring for family members with AIDS and for orphaned grandchildren, often with little or no support.
This report focuses on the role of older carers in supporting orphans and vulnerable children. It draws on evidence collected from programme experience in Africa and Asia, in order to provide policymakers and other actors tackling the HIV/AIDS epidemic with: an overview of the issues identified by older people and orphans and vulnerable children themselves; good practice examples from community-based programmes that are improving the lives of…