title: Community home-based care - a cost-effective model of care: who benefits?
abstract: Statistics indicate that the HIV and AIDS pandemic is rampant in the province of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN). Increasingly, people with HIV and AIDS rely on voluntary community home-based caregivers for care and support. Drawing on original research conducted in 2005 and a subsequent study in 2009, this article presents the socio-economic context of care and women's perspectives on care giving. The study was conducted in three different communities in KZN. The feminist post-structuralist perspective provided the theoretical framework. Data collection methods included in-depth semi-structured interviews, observations and documentary review. The data were analysed using the grounded theory approach. The study revealed that it is poor, black, unemployed Zulu women who provide community home-based care (CHBC) in the province. The findings further suggested that the CHBC programme overlooks the realities of women, who operate in a context of poverty and unemployment. It is therefore argued that while the National HIV and AIDS Strategic Plan 2007-2011 has made progressive strides, implementation of the set targets remains a formidable challenge. In practice, the Plan remains gender-blind to poor women's social, political and economic imperatives. The article proposes a model of care that takes into cognisance the interests of women caregivers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Development, School of Social Work and Community Development, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. thabethe@ukzn.ac.za
authors.forename: Nompumelelo
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Thabethe
mesh_terms: D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000451:nursing; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000451:nursing*; D006701:Home Nursing / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D011203:Poverty; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013019:South Africa; D014478:Unemployment; D014838:Volunteers / Q000523:psychology*