Gender and Home-Based Care for HIV/AIDS and TB Patients in Rural and Urban Zimbabwe

Abstract

This article explores the gendered burden of care in TB and HIV/AIDS affected households in rural and urban Zimbabwe. Based on 2005-06 research conducted in Bulawayo and Tshelanyamba, we asked carers how caregiving has affected their lives, livelihoods and workloads. Most carers (all of whom are women) were worried about food security and the cost of health care, including transport. Livelihoods such as farming and informal trade were interrupted when patients were quite ill, but many women were forced to resume their work out of desperation. Long absent, terminally ill husbands who returned home to be cared for were often resented, particularly by children. Community care support groups were especially strong in the rural areas. Carers reported increased levels of faith and selfconfidence for their assumed leadership roles. In many households, gendered roles were in flux as men and boys assumed greater domestic responsibility to support exhausted carers. Households with access to extended family support, or who had the resources to hire help, were the most resilient. Carers were vulnerable physically and emotionally; most were desperate for training, proper equipment and the types of spiritual and psychological support needed to deal with the burden and trauma of caring.