Burden of care is carried by women and girls

Date: January 1, 1970

This is a first hand account of a young woman who is an orphan, following the death of her parents as a result of HIV/AIDS, and is now caring for a sicj aunt as well as several siblings and cousins.

This article may be used in training to:

1. Demonstrate the power of first hand accounts in raising debates about care work, especially in the era of HIV/AIDS.

2. Demonstrate how reporting on HIV/AIDS and children, and having their voices heard, can be done sensitively.

3. Raise discussion about the responsibility of the media in covering HIV and AIDS.

4. Raise discussion on the gender aspects of HIV/AIDS.

Trainer’s notes

Use this article to draw out details of the challenges to care work posed by HIV/AIDS.

Discussion Questions:

1. How does the pandemic impact on young women, their future lives and prospects? In what ways is the pandemic reversing the fragile gains that have been made for women’s rights?
2. What challenges do girls face in protecting themselves from HIV/AIDS? The discussion should examine the role of culture and tradition and the impact it has on girls’ ability to access information about sex and safer sex.

3. Would you consider this a positive or negative example of HIV/ AIDS coverage ? Why ?

Training exercises

1. If possible, constitute a panel of care givers to People Living with AIDS to talk about their experiences. What support do they get from the state, if any? What support would help to ease the burden? What policy issues are raised by this?

2. Examine care work in your country. Who is caring for people living with HIV/AIDS,what is the social and ecnomic impact ?

3. Interview care workers of various ages and genders, work with them to write their own first hand accounts.

4. Examine guidelines on reporting on children. Keeping these in mind, find a way to write or record children’s perceptions and experiences realated to HIV.

Links to Training Resources:

Business Unusual, Fact Sheet Three
Gender and HIV/AIDS: A Training Manual for Southern African Media and Communicators, Gender Links and the AIDS Law Project, Chapter 4 www.genderlinks.org.za/docs/training/hiv-training-manual/hiv-ch4.pdf

and Chapter 5 www.genderlinks.org.za/docs/training/hiv-training-manual/hiv-ch5.pdf

Media Monitoring Project: Research and advice for journalists on reporting about children

Related GL Commentaries
Care workers support people living with HIV
Making care work count!

Men share the burden of HIV and AIDS care

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