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This comprehensive gender and HIV/AIDS web portal provides up-to-date resources on the gender dimensions of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Read more...

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UNIFEM Gender and HIV/AIDS Web Portal: The Care Economy and Women's Unpaid Work

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A Gendered Analysis of the Burden of Care on Family and Volunteer Caregivers

TITLE: A Gendered Analysis of the Burden of Care on Family and Volunteer Caregivers in Uganda and South Africa
AUTHOR: O. Akintola
DATE: 2004
PUBLISHER: Health Economics and HIV/AIDS Research Division (HEARD), University of KwaZulu-Natal

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.

Article can be accessed on-line here in PDF format. To view PDF documents you will need to download and install Adobe Acrobat Reader. The program is available for free through the Adobe website, download here. More help is available on PDF documents and Adobe Acrobat Reader here.

Posted by editor on Wednesday, November 12, 2008 @ 15:19:23 CST (1904 reads)
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The Care Economy: Gender and the Silent AIDS Crisis in Southern Africa

TITLE: The Care Economy: Gender and the Silent AIDS Crisis in Southern Africa
AUTHOR: S. Urdang
DATE: 2006
PUBLISHER: Journal of Southern African Studies, Volume 32, Number 1

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. There is also a need to implement policies that focus on issues such as treatment, prevention, education, economic empowerment and violence against women. The article argues that unless the care economy and the relations of gender inequality within the household are included in the design, implementation and evaluation of such interventions, results will be compromised.

Posted by editor on Wednesday, November 12, 2008 @ 15:18:17 CST (2237 reads)
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The Impact of HIV/AIDS on Women Care Givers in Situations of Poverty

TITLE: The Impact of HIV/AIDS on Women Care Givers in Situations of Poverty: policy Issues
AUTHOR: A. Kapur Mehta and S. Gupta
DATE: 2005
PUBLISHER: UNIFEM South Asia and Institute of Public Administration

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.

Article can be accessed on-line here in PDF format. To view PDF documents you will need to download and install Adobe Acrobat Reader. The program is available for free through the Adobe website, download here. More help is available on PDF documents and Adobe Acrobat Reader here.

Posted by editor on Wednesday, May 21, 2008 @ 11:07:18 CDT (2376 reads)
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Stronger together: supporting the vital role played by older people in the fight

TITLE: Stronger together: supporting the vital role played by older people in the fight against the HIV and AIDS pandemic
AUTHOR: HelpAge International
DATE: 2008
PUBLISHER: HelpAge International

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.

Posted by editor on Monday, April 21, 2008 @ 11:35:18 CDT (2679 reads)
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“It’s like giving birth to the sick person for the second time”

TITLE: “It’s like giving birth to the sick person for the second time:” family caregivers’ perspectives on providing care
AUTHOR: N. Hunter
DATE: 2007
PUBLISHER: School of Development Studies, University of Kwazulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa

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 of female caregivers.

Posted by editor on Monday, April 21, 2008 @ 11:32:03 CDT (2804 reads)
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Women, girls, HIV/AIDS and the world of work

TITLE: Women, girls, HIV/AIDS and the world of work
AUTHOR: International Labour Organization (ILO)
DATE: 2004
PUBLISHER: International Labour Organization (ILO)

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.

Posted by editor on Wednesday, October 10, 2007 @ 06:24:38 CDT (3752 reads)
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Missing Mothers

TITLE: Missing Mothers: Meeting the needs of children affected by AIDS
AUTHOR: Save the Children UK
DATE: 2006
PUBLISHER: Save the Children UK

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 children affected by AIDS, Save the Children argues that we should also be targeting mothers. The more care a mother gets, and the longer she can be supported at home, the better her children’s chances of survival.

Posted by editor on Wednesday, April 05, 2006 @ 15:22:38 CDT (2720 reads)
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Lending a Caring Hand: Tips for Home Health Care

TITLE: Lending a Caring Hand: Tips for Home Health Care
AUTHOR: I. Gaviria
DATE: 2005
PUBLISHER: UN INSTRAW (United Nations International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women)

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 emotionally draining task. In the developing world, many families of people living with HIV/AIDS have low incomes and lack the requisite knowledge of how to care for their family members. This manual aims to support home-based caregivers of people living with HIV/AIDS in low-resource settings. Using pictures and simple texts, it provides instructions on safe and hygienic ways to store and prepare food, dispose of waste, change bed linens or dressings, watch for and treat opportunistic infections, as well as nausea and other common side-effects.

Article can be accessed on-line here in PDF format. To view PDF documents you will need to download and install Adobe Acrobat Reader. The program is available for free through the Adobe website, download here. More help is available on PDF documents and Adobe Acrobat Reader here.

Posted by editor on Sunday, April 02, 2006 @ 11:53:50 CDT (2859 reads)
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Cost Study of Home-based Care Programs in South Africa

TITLE: Programmatic Implications of a Cost Study of Home-based Care Programs in South Africa
AUTHOR: R. Homan, C. Searle, E. Esu-Williams, M. Aguirre, S. Mafata, F. Meidany, C. Oosthuizen, L. Towel
DATE: 2005
PUBLISHER: Population Council

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.

Article can be accessed on-line here in PDF format. To view PDF documents you will need to download and install Adobe Acrobat Reader. The program is available for free through the Adobe website, download here. More help is available on PDF documents and Adobe Acrobat Reader here.

Posted by editor on Saturday, April 01, 2006 @ 16:08:04 CST (2734 reads)
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Field-testing Costing Guidelines for Home-based Care

TITLE: Field-testing Costing Guidelines for Home-based Care: The Case of Uganda
AUTHOR: S. Musau, C. Chanfreau, L. Bazira Kyomuhangi
DATE: 2005
PUBLISHER: Abt Associates Inc.

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 health systems in countries highly affected by HIV/AIDS. This report presents findings from the Partners for Health Reformplus (PHRplus) field-test regarding guidelines for costing home-based care (HBC) programs. Nine home-base care programs in Uganda provide the basis for this analysis. The findings indicate that the PHRplus guidelines help the user to define the core home-based care activities, and to collect appropriate cost and service data.

Article can be accessed on-line here in PDF format. To view PDF documents you will need to download and install Adobe Acrobat Reader. The program is available for free through the Adobe website, download here. More help is available on PDF documents and Adobe Acrobat Reader here.

Posted by editor on Saturday, April 01, 2006 @ 16:04:51 CST (2842 reads)
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The Cost of Love

TITLE: The cost of love: Older people in the fight against AIDS in Tanzania
AUTHOR: HelpAge International
DATE: 2004
PUBLISHER: HelpAge International

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 communities in Tanzania respond to and support the needs and contributions of older women and men in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

Posted by editor on Monday, August 29, 2005 @ 10:45:34 CDT (3565 reads)
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Coping with Love: Older People and HIV/AIDS in Thailand

TITLE: Coping with Love: Older people and HIV/AIDS in Thailand
AUTHOR: HelpAge International
DATE: 2005
PUBLISHER: HelpAge International

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 links between old age, poverty and HIV/AIDS in Thailand. The report concludes with key recommendations to form the basis of an agenda for action to improve the lives of older people affected by HIV/AIDS.

Article can be accessed on-line here in English PDF format, here in Thai PDF Format. To view PDF documents you will need to download and install Adobe Acrobat Reader. The program is available for free through the Adobe website, download here. More help is available on PDF documents and Adobe Acrobat Reader here.

Posted by editor on Monday, August 29, 2005 @ 10:42:31 CDT (3446 reads)
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Forgotten Families

TITLE: Forgotten Families: older people caring for orphans and vulnerable children affected by HIV/AIDS
AUTHOR: HelpAge International and International HIV/AIDS Alliance
DATE: 2003
PUBLISHER: HelpAge International and International HIV/AIDS Alliance

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 older people and orphans and vulnerable children; recommendations that will help to prioritise orphans and their carers within HIV/AIDS and wider development policies, programmes and research.

Posted by editor on Monday, August 29, 2005 @ 10:38:16 CDT (3351 reads)
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HIV/AIDS and Older Persons

TITLE: Ageways Newsletter #61 - HIV/AIDS and Older Persons
AUTHOR: HelpAge International
DATE: 2002
PUBLISHER: HelpAge International

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.

Article can be accessed on-line here in English PDF format and here in Spanish PDF Format. To view PDF documents you will need to download and install Adobe Acrobat Reader. The program is available for free through the Adobe website, download here. More help is available on PDF documents and Adobe Acrobat Reader here.

Posted by editor on Monday, August 29, 2005 @ 10:34:43 CDT (3420 reads)
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Care, Women and AIDS

TITLE: Care, Women and AIDS
AUTHOR: UNAIDS and UNIFEM
DATE: 2004
PUBLISHER: UNAIDS

This fact sheet addresses how HIV/AIDS have significantly increased the care burden for many women. Poverty and poor public services have also combined with AIDS to turn the care burden for women into a crisis with far-reaching social, health and economic consequences. The term 'care economy' is sometimes used to describe the many tasks carried out mostly by women and girls at home such as cooking, cleaning, fetching water and many other activities associated with caring for the young, sick and elderly in the household. The value of the time, energy and resources required to perform this unpaid work is hardly recognized and accounted for, despite its critical contribution to the overall economy and society in general.

Posted by editor on Thursday, March 31, 2005 @ 18:09:10 CST (3639 reads)
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Caring for Carers

TITLE: Caring for Carers: Managing stress in those who care for people with HIV and AIDS
AUTHOR: UNAIDS
DATE: 2002
PUBLISHER: UNAIDS

This report is based on interviews with managers and supervisors of care teams; carers on the staff of AIDS Support Organizations; community volunteers; primary carers within families; and individuals with expertise in this field. The report identifies who the carers are within the family and at community level. It then identifies the stressors associated with their care-giving roles. The quality of care they are able to provide and their ability to do so over a sustained period depend on the protection of their own well-being and morale, so it is important to minimize the stressors on carers. This report draws lessons from the field in how to manage stress and minimize burnout in these settings and recommends strategies to safeguard the health of carers at family and community levels.

Article can be accessed on-line here in PDF format. To view PDF documents you will need to download and install Adobe Acrobat Reader. The program is available for free through the Adobe website, download here. More help is available on PDF documents and Adobe Acrobat Reader here.

Posted by editor on Thursday, March 31, 2005 @ 18:05:18 CST (3464 reads)
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Health Impacts of Co-residence with and Caregiving to Persons with HIV/AIDS

TITLE: Health Impacts of Co-residence with and Caregiving to Persons with HIV/AIDS on Older Parents in Thailand
AUTHOR: J. Kespichayawattana and M. VanLandingham
DATE: 2002
PUBLISHER: Population Studies Center at the Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan

This article explores how the role of parents is so much more intensive, extensive, and different in the context of many developing country epidemics vis à vis epidemics in developed countries, and whether and to what extent the physical and mental health of older AIDS parents may decline from their close involvement with their ill children, relative to parents who do not suffer this unfortunate set of events. This article hypothesizes that parents who are most closely involved with caregiving experience the most severe impacts on their health. These negative impacts result from physical and emotional strains associated with caregiving and manifest themselves both in lower self-reported levels of overall health, and in a higher frequency of specific symptoms of ill health. Mothers are more closely connected with the intimate tasks of personal caregiving to PHAs than fathers, and as a result suffer more of the negative health consequences of caregiving than fathers do.

Posted by editor on Thursday, March 31, 2005 @ 18:02:47 CST (3303 reads)
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Why Should We Care About Unpaid Care Work?

TITLE: Why Should We Care About Unpaid Care Work?
AUTHOR: D. Budlender
DATE: 2004
PUBLISHER: United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM)

Unpaid care work is a major contributing factor to gender inequality and women’s poverty. The amount and intensity of unpaid care work in Southern Africa has been exacerbated by the HIV and AIDS pandemic. Mainland Southern Africa is said to be the most affected region in the world. Southern Africa has less than 5% of the world’s population and yet has the highest rates of HIV and AIDS infection. The worst affected countries include Swaziland, Botswana, Lesotho, South Africa and Zimbabwe. The guidebook is intended to assist in advocacy activities aimed at influencing economic policy makers to acknowledge and account for women’s contribution in national and global economies through statistics, national accounts, budgets, and taxation. The purpose of the guidebook and subsequent activities is to make unpaid work visible and to make it accounted for in macro- and micro-level policy making. This will enable policy makers to formulate and implement gender-sensitive policies that will counter the feminization of poverty.

Posted by editor on Thursday, September 23, 2004 @ 16:56:38 CDT (5270 reads)
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Progress of the World's Women 2000

TITLE: Progress of the World's Women 2000
AUTHOR: UNIFEM
DATE: 2000
PUBLISHER: UNIFEM

The full report investigates women's status in the context of globalization from the mid 1980s through the late 1990s. The report shows that only eight nations have successfully met global agreements to achieve both gender equality in secondary education enrollment and at least a 30 per cent share of women's seats in parliament. This document is an extract from Chapter One of the report, which focuses on Empowerment and Economics. Although not specifically focused on HIV/AIDS, this excerpt provides a framework for the gender division of labour in the household and a discussion on women's work, including women's unpaid care work.

Article can be accessed on-line here.

Posted by editor on Sunday, January 05, 2003 @ 23:10:49 CST (1335 reads)
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Summary Report on the Care Economy, HIV/AIDS, and the World of Work

TITLE: Brainstorm Workshop on ILO/UNIFEM Programme on The Care Economy, HIV/AIDS and the World of Work: Summary Report
AUTHOR: International Labour Organization (ILO) and United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM)
DATE: 2001
PUBLISHER: ILO

A two-day brainstorm workshop was organized to discuss a new proposal for a collaborative programme between ILO and UNIFEM on the issue of the unpaid domestic care work carried out primarily by women (care economy) in the context of HIV/AIDS and situated within the larger framework of the world of work. The workshop was designed to focus on the key elements of the programme, and to achieve a balance of information sharing and presentations with group work to facilitate the process of brainstorming. The draft proposal provided the reference point for discussion, comment and ideas, but the expertise of specialists, experts and resource persons was drawn upon to add new perspectives, and to bring new thoughts to the table.

Posted by editor on Sunday, January 05, 2003 @ 23:08:42 CST (1279 reads)
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Global Campaigns

World AIDS Day Campaign

The World AIDS Campaign from 2005 to 2010 is calling on individuals and groups to support the theme “Stop AIDS. Keep the promise” aimed at governments and policy makers. Read more...

Say NO to Violence against Women!

Join UNIFEM Goodwill Ambassador Nicole Kidman in support of UNIFEM's campaign to Say No to Violence against Women! Add your name to a worldwide movement to speak out against violence against women. Read More...

Global Coalition on Women and AIDS

The Global Coalition on Women and AIDS is an informal grouping of partners and organizations working to mitigate the impact of AIDS on women and girls worldwide. Read More...

New Reports

Executive Summary of UNIFEM forthcoming report “Transforming the National AIDS Response: Gender Equality, Women’s Rights and the ‘Three Ones’. Read more...

Manifesto on the needs of women affected by HIV/AIDS produced by the Blueprint for Action on Women and HIV/AIDS Coalition. Read more(English).../Read more(French)...

Positive Women Telling Truths: ICW Challenges for the Toronto AIDS Conference. ICW News Issue 34 July/August 2006 Special Focus: Inclusion/Exclusion – What do these words mean to us? ICW’s Challenges for the Toronto AIDS Conference. Read more...

Women Speak

I am Gracia Violeta Ross Quiroga, a 28-year-old woman from Bolivia living with HIV. It was in March 2000, when I had an infection that would not heal, that I went to hospital for tests. I was tested for many different illnesses including HIV. When the HIV test came back HIV positive, I could not believe it. My family did not reject me but received me with open arms, and told me they did not want to know what happened, they just wanted to be with me and support me until the last day. Since I completed my Bachelor’s degree, I have been writing publications and giving lectures on gender issues and the plight of PLWHA. The terrible injustices affecting PLWHA in my country, especially against women, encouraged me to get involved.

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