AIDS and older Zimbabweans: who will care for the carers?

The AIDS pandemic has wrought havoc on family structures in Zimbabwe, leaving numerous children orphaned in its wake. Older people, grandparents in particular, play a critical role in looking after these children. However, what is not appreciated is the critical question of who will look after the old people in their time of need

Bruised and battered: the struggles of older female informal traders in urban areas of Zimbabwe since the economic reforms

In Zimbabwe, the Economic Structural Adjustment Programme (ESAP) launched in 1990 with the goal of improving the living standards of the people, has had the opposite effect in that it has caused untold financial hardship, particularly among marginalized groups. In the wake of the difficulties, many individuals have turned to the informal sector for survival. Traditional informal-sector operators, who include older women as well as new entrants, in particular retrenched formal-sector workers and school leavers, find themselves jostling for space in the new harsh economic environment characterized by austerity. These developments have resulted in the informal sector being saturated, compromising whatever viability the sector may have commanded. A group whose activities have been most negatively affected is older female informal traders. This paper analyses the plight of older female informal-sector traders and concludes that the women need assistance to enable them to survive and to remain self-reliant

Community living for destitute older Zimbabweans: institutional care with a human face

Zimbabwe, like many other developing countries, has a relatively large number of destitute elderly people. For a variety of reasons it has become increasingly difficult to cater for these people - only a few old people's homes exist. In any event, conventional old people's homes have generally been frowned upon, not only for cultural reasons but also because they are perceived as being not user friendly and too expensive. For these and other reasons, it has become necessary to search for alternative types of accommodation for this population, which are affordable and socially more acceptable. This paper describes an alternative housing strategy with a more human face than residential institutions, which provides for co-operative living for destitute elderly persons

Food meanings in HIV and AIDS caregiving trajectories: Ritual, optimism and anguish among caregivers in Lesotho

The article describes the caregiving responsibility to provide food for chronically ill family members and the meanings attached to food and eating when ill created stress for family caregivers. The results come from a qualitative phenomenological study using in-depth interviews with 21 family caregivers of chronically ill HIV and AIDS patients in one district in Lesotho. Analysis of the interview data showed that the caregivers attached profound meanings to food and feeding care recipients. Their perceptions about food as part of family life and caring, the role of food and eating in curbing disease progression, the link between food and medical efficacy and the link between food and life led to ritualised behaviour around food, and moments of optimism and anguish in caregiving. Patients’ behaviour in relation to food was in most instances inconsistent with the caregivers’ goals, thus leading this aspect of caregiving to induce stress. Services intended to support home-based caregivers and patients could contribute to the reduction of stress associated with food through suitably tailored food assistance and professional support to caregivers to enhance their competences and understanding of the dynamics of food intake as AIDS progressed

BOOK REVIEW-Mining in Africa: Regulation and Development.

Campbell, B. 2009. ed. Mining in Africa: Regulation and Development. London: Pluto Press. (IDRC and NAI). 276 Pages. ISBN 978 – 1- 55250- 450 - 5 (e-book)

Editorial: Celebrating 50 years of promoting social development in Africa

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Hospital social work practice in Botswana: Yesterday, today and tomorrow

Social work professionals play a key role in facilitating social welfare processes. The practice of social work in any given setting requires knowledge of human development and behaviour, of social, economic, and cultural institutions and the interaction of all these various factors. Social work practice occurs in various contexts, but essentially it happens in both primary and secondary settings. Primary settings are those public and private social welfare agencies where professional social workers are seen as the key players, given that they run or manage the settings. On the other hand, in secondary settings social work is not viewed as the core business. A hospital setting for instance, is ordinarily considered a secondary setting, essentially because the core business in such settings is treatment of patients suffering from various ailments, by medical personnel. In both primary and secondary settings, social work professionals often encounter enormous challenges, and these tend to be acute in developing countries in particular, due to resource constraints. This paper examines the challenges associated with social work practice in hospital settings in Botswana, and suggests ways of improving the practice environment to enhance the quality of service.KEYWORDS: Social work practice, Botswana, secondary setting, hospital, teamwork, challenges Social work practice, Botswana, secondary setting, hospital, teamwork, challenge