Exploring The Role of Family Caregivers and Home-basd Care Programmes in Meeting The Needs of People Living with HIV/AIDS

This is a study of of six different home based care (HBC)
programmes undertaken by the Horizons Programme in 2004 on the cost of HBC services, the best use of resources, and how well programmes were able to meet the needs of beneficiaries and their families.

The summary documents the roles played by household and HBC programme caregivers in meeting the needs of the chronically ill. It also identifies those needs that are not being met by household and HBC programme caregivers.

The research documents the differences in types of care provided by informal and formal caregivers. The findings suggest that:

• Formal caregivers serve more as a complement to the household caregivers than as a substitute. Even where formal caregivers are providing HBC services, the household caregivers, on average, spend more time per week assisting the sick person than the formal caregivers.
• There is a need for HBC programmes to work more closely with household members. Interventions to educate families on caregiving are needed as household caregivers may lack the necessary skills for caregiving. This is evidenced by the substantial proportion of caregivers who wish to receive more information and education on caring for people living with HIV/AIDS.
• HBC programmes need to explore ways to assist households with income generation.Many of the households served by HBC programmes are very poor and linking HBC programmes with income generation activities may alleviate some of the financial burdens they face.