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To date the international community has tended to direct HIV prevention programmes, treatment, care and supportive services to young adults and children, with little concern about the impact on older people. Since empirical evidence on the socioeconomic impact of HIV/AIDS on households with older persons is lacking, this paper attempts to fill this gap, using data from a household-based survey conducted in Bhambayi, a mixed formal and informal settlement north of eThekwini, KwaZulu-Natal. The findings highlight the links between the uptake of the South African old age pension, poverty and HIV/AIDS in households with older persons. The paper makes recommendations for both government and non-governmental organisations in respect of community-based support systems for such households affected by HIV/AIDS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper, based on a case study of a South African contract cleaning company in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, adds to the recent literature on the management of the financial impact of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. After situating the research alongside recent contributions that have examined large enterprises, and small, medium and micro enterprises, the paper provides a profile of the company and its predominantly female workforce. The company's management of costs incurred due to HIV/AIDS is critically assessed from the perspective of financial sustainability, using an AIDS Projection Model developed by Matthews (2007). It was found that while continued employment of this workforce is economically sustainable, both from the perspective of the business and the associated provident fund, the costs to employees are far from equitable. The paper therefore recommends the implementation of a holistic HIV/AIDS management programme, including treatment and prevention activities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper explores the financial and opportunity costs of adult morbidity and mortality for rural South African female pensioners in the era of HIV/AIDS. As mortality rates from HIV/AIDS and other causes escalate, older women are bearing the brunt of caregiving responsibilities for the sick and orphaned. They often use their state-funded non-contributory pensions to support kin during crises. Interviews conducted with 30 women aged 60-75 years in the Medical Research Council/University of the Witwatersrand Unit (Agincourt) study site in northeastern South Africa revealed that, to cover expenses incurred during crises, older women sometimes forgo spending money and time on their personal needs. They are thus negatively affected as individuals, while contributing positively to the household. Despite the additional household income from pensions, many of the study respondents still found it difficult to recover from the financial impact of these crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transport sector is an integral element of southern Africa's economic development. The impact of HIV/AIDS on the region is therefore a major cause for concern. Using a method of triangulation, we used the findings of a comprehensive literature review, a stakeholder questionnaire and a United Nations regional workshop to take stock of the existing evidence linking HIV/AIDS to the transport sector. This paper outlines the strategies used to address HIV/AIDS by a range of stakeholders in the road, maritime, aviation and railway transport sectors. It highlights regional, national, and intervention-specific good practice examples in the field, suggesting key research gaps and putting forward policy recommendations for the region. As a result, national action plans will hopefully be able to benefit from this knowledge-sharing, enhanced regional cooperation and implementation of more effective responses to the epidemic in this critical sector. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Household structures in many countries in Africa have been drastically changed by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Traditionally, orphans were absorbed by members of the extended family but today this safety net no longer works so well and many children are left to fend for themselves. The South African Government recognises the problem, but views differ on the effectiveness of the programmes for assisting these children. This article looks at what is known and what needs further research. It is known that child-headed households do exist in South Africa and that children living in these households are vulnerable. What is not known is the prevalence of these households and how to deal with the children's psycho-social problems. The article argues that the definition of child-headed households needs to be refined if we are to understand the extent of the problem. This will facilitate assessment of the programmes established for these children. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

HIV/AIDS has been described as a household shock distinct from others faced by rural households. This study examines this characterisation by analysing the impact of an adult HIV/AIDS-related death on household food security, compared with households experiencing either no mortality or a sudden non-HIV/AIDS adult death. The research is based in the Agincourt Health and Demographic Surveillance Site in rural South Africa, and focuses on a sample of 290 households stratified by experience of a recent prime-age adult death. HIV/AIDS-related mortality was associated with reduced household food security. However, much of this negative association also characterised households experiencing a non-HIV/AIDS mortality. In addition, other household characteristics, especially socioeconomic status, were strong determinants of food security regardless of mortality experience. We therefore recommend that development policy and interventions aimed at enhancing food security target vulnerable households broadly, rather than solely targeting those directly affected by HIV/AIDS mortality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of international and internal migration in facilitating or inhibiting development is currently attracting considerable attention globally. In southern Africa, the migration-development nexus has been researched for a number of years and policy makers in both the development and migration fields are now paying it increasing attention and increasingly recognising the significance of migration for development and poverty reduction. Much of the international debate on this nexus is hampered by the absence of sound, reliable national and local data. This collection of essays by southern African researchers combines the national with the local, the quantitative with the qualitative, and addresses several prominent themes in the global migration-development debate: remittances, the brain drain and migrant rights. It also focuses on key migration-development issues which have received less attention globally, but which are of critical importance to southern Africa: migration and HIV/AIDS, migration and food security and the rural impact of migrant retrenchments. This Introduction to the collection contextualises the essays within current international and local debates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In South Africa, the level of HIV infection is reaching crisis proportions. Besides sexual abstinence and mutually monogamous sexual relations, use of the condom has an important role to play in curbing the further spread of the HIV/AIDS. The aim of this article is to explore the extent and determinants of condom use inside and outside the primary sexual relationships. The research objectives are addressed using both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. The study found that knowledge about condoms, as a method of dual protection against the risk of pregnancy and disease, is high. Despite this, condoms are not a popular method of protection, especially within the primary sexual relationship. Consistent with numerous other studies, this study found widespread disapproval of condom use. Condoms are more likely to be used in non-primary than primary sexual relationships. In both relationships, condom use corresponds closely with level of education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Addressing Aids and unemployment is one of the greatest challenges facing South Africa at present. Health and welfare interventions will be costly and are likely to meet with resistance from taxpayers. Expanding employment (which will help alleviate poverty and expand the pool of taxpayers) is thus necessary. An inclusive social accord could help, but only if organised labour is prepared to make concessions, as was the case in the new social accords in Australia, Ireland and the Netherlands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research conducted in Lesotho, Kenya and South Africa has revealed that HIV/Aids will seriously impact on a range of land issues as a direct result of very high infection rates in these countries. HIV/Aids will affect different forms of land use, the functioning of land administration systems, land rights of women and orphans as well as the poor generally, and inheritance practices and norms. The epidemic not only affects the productivity of the infected, but also diverts the labour of the household and extended family away from other productive and reproductive activities as they take care of the sick. Affected households fall below the social and economic threshold of vulnerability and 'survivability', leaving the survivors - mainly the young and elderly - with limited resources to quickly regain a sustainable livelihood. This indicates the importance of effective land administration systems and of land rights as HIV/Aids impacts on the terms and conditions on which households and individuals hold, use and transact land. This has a particular resonance for women and children's rights, which, in the context of rural power relations that are themselves coming under increasing pressure from the epidemic, are especially vulnerable to being usurped. Thus, the impact of HIV/Aids on land raises complex and sensitive issues for land policies and programmes, particularly if they are intended to underpin rural development and sustainable livelihoods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]