Demographic evidence of family and household changes in response to the effects of HIV/AIDS in southern Africa: implications for efforts to strengthen families
Abstract
This review examines the evidence for changes in family and household demography as a consequence of HIV and AIDS. Given that this review has been commissioned by the Joint Learning Initiative on Children and HIV/AIDS, attention is specifically paid to demographic changes affecting the living and care arrangements of children. This review is structured in order to examine evidence for HIV and AIDS-related family and demographic changes across the complete life-course of families and households. Particular attention is paid to the impact on family and household formation and building because it is during these phases of the life-cycle that children are born, grow up and enter adulthood. Chapter 2 considers whether the epidemic has affected the circumstances under which young adults enter unions, bear and raise children. Chapter 3 focuses on changes in the stability of households, in particular the role of HIV and AIDS in determining family and household dissolution. In chapter 4, changes across the household life-cycle are linked to changes in the size, composition, and specifically to the living arrangements of children. Chapter 5 reviews early studies exploring the consequences of treatment in sub-Saharan Africa on reproductive behaviour and choices. The concluding chapter identifies lessons for policy and programme efforts to strengthen families and households by drawing together the evidence across the family and household life-cycle, and by examining population-based findings from several populations in which the majority of children affected by HIV and AIDS spend their childhoods.
Citation
Joint Learning Initiative on Children and HIV/AIDS, Boston, MA, USA, 68 pp.
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