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Research report on gender, poverty and HIV/AIDS
April 2003. PACSA Report. Republished with kind permission of PACSA.
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The Pietermaritzburg Agency for Christian Social Awareness (PACSA) have released Phase One of their Research Report on their project entitled Gender, Poverty and HIV/AIDS: How Do Women Survive and What Support Do They Need? This report documents the first phase of a joint research project conducted by the Gender and Poverty and Economic Justice Desks of PACSA.
The ultimate aim of this research is to enable churches and other support structures within this and other communities to better understand the practical everyday implications of the triple oppression of gender, poverty and HIV/AIDS on women?’s lives, as well as what strategies these women have at their disposal to cope in their situation.
The key focus is on answering the question ?‘How??’. How do women survive? How do they make sense of what is happening in their lives, and what strategies do they have for coping? Further: what kind of support are they getting, and what other support do they need? With this information, recommendations can be made for intervention by PACSA, churches in the Midlands, and other key local and national stakeholders as to how to assist in creating a better life for poor women affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
This report summarises the results of Phase 1 of the project, which has involved interviewing 30 women living in poverty in the Mpumuza area near Pietermaritzburg, and obtaining information about their family relationships, employment history, income, housing, and educational background. It goes on to report on the support they receive from churches and other organisations in their lives in general. The major focus is on how they are living with HIV/AIDS. Aspects considered include voluntary counselling and testing, disclosure and attitudes, health management, including treatment and nutrition, and support received.
The report goes on to provide an overview of a report back meeting held with the women who have participated in the research, and it is found that the input received there fully supports the data obtained, and also provides more personal depth to the insights obtained.
This is followed by brief stories, of 5 of the women interviewed, which are illustrative of the 30 women in the sample, and possibly of many women living in similar conditions with HIV/AIDS.
The data reveals the struggles of women living under extreme poverty, often in loneliness because of a decision to leave an abusive or unsupportive partner and a fear of disclosing their status to anyone at all. However, one thing that makes these women perhaps untypical of semi-rural women in South Africa, is that they all have access to relatively good treatment and support options given the absence of antiretrovirals. Nevertheless, it is sobering to have to report that 7 of the 30 women (23%) have passed away during the first 5 months of the project.
This report seeks to answer to key questions: How do these women survive? And What helps and what hinders them? Some of the conclusions are summarised below:
How do these women survive?
The short answer to this seems to be: by sheer guts! The economic conditions under which most of these women live, and the violent relationships many have been in and some are still in, would make one imagine that their immune systems would be rock bottom. But somehow they manage to go on. Their sense of responsibility for their children, and a fear for their wellbeing without their mothers, is another important motivator mentioned by many of the women. Many of them cite their personal faith in God as the main key to their being able to go on. One even tells of her deep sense that God is in control, regardless of the circumstances. None have expressed any kind of anger with God for their circumstances (although some have questioned why God would have allowed this to happen to them).
What help\s and what hinders them?
They site various reasons for improvements in their state of mind, but for each one of them it goes back to SUPPORT. Even one of the loners who has disclosed to no one and receives no support from any people, still finds her strength in the support she feels God has given her. Many find their families?’ support invaluable, and some value support from their church (whether they have disclosed or not), although often the church is clearly not there for them in the way that they actually feel they need.
An important aspect of their survival on a purely physical basis is the welfare grants, for those who have managed to obtain them. On the other hand, difficulties with the system also constitute one of the main obstacles to their progress. But the unapproachability, delays and complicated procedures of welfare departments is also a key contributing factor to the enormity of their struggles.
But by far the most common factors to which they attribute their survival relate to the care they are receiving at the CDC?’s and the clinics (medical and especially counseling support). This is a great credit to these service providers, especially in the context of enormous pressures under which they work. However, more work needs to be done to ensure better continuity of services and support between levels of the health care system (especially CDC?’s and clinics) as well as between government departments and civil services to those crushed by disability and unemployment.
Without exception, those who are HIV+ Support Group members site the support received as a crucial aspect of their coping, and they were actively encouraging other participants at the report back workshop to join them.
The full report, alongwith its executive summary can be downloaded on the righthand side of this page
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