Abstracts AIDS : The ‘ Grandmothers ’ Disease ’ in Southern Africa Valerie Møller

AIDS: The ‘Grandmothers’ Disease’ in Southern Africa Valerie Møller In Africa, AIDS is called the grandmothers’ disease because the burden of caring for the sick and the survivors falls on older women. The two abstracts which follow report an overview of research on the social and economic effects of the HIV}AIDS epidemic in Southern Africa and a case study of an intervention among older women in a Botswanan village. Rene Loewenson and Alan Whiteside, Social and Economic Issues of HIV}AIDS in Southern Africa. Southern African AIDS Information and Dissemination Service, Harare, Zimbabwe, . Dr Loewenson, Technical Co-ordinator of a health, safety and environment programme in Harare, Zimbabwe, and Professor Whiteside, of the Economic Research Unit at the University of Natal in South Africa, overview the regional impact of HIV}AIDS in terms of public health and development. The bulk of the report, which was compiled for the Southern African AIDS Information and Dissemination Service (SAFAIDS), summarises current research in each country in the region. The authors synthesise the research themes and outline a research agenda. The authors stress the distinctiveness of the HIV}AIDS epidemic and argue that it requires a different and much broader response. The important points are that AIDS is a new epidemic and the disorder has a long incubation period (estimated as – years in sub-Saharan Africa) ; persons who are infected by the HIV virus may have many years of productive life, although they can infect others during this period; and the current prognosis for people infected is bleak. The disease is found mainly in adults aged – years and infants. Slightly more women than men are infected. In Southern Africa about  per cent of HIV infection is transmitted through heterosexual intercourse. Babies infected by mothers (prior and during birth or via breast milk) account for about  per cent of all cases. There are links between HIV and other diseases ; tuberculosis incidence has increased and is directly related to HIV. In some Southern African countries the epidemic may have peaked in urban centres but it continues to spread in rural areas. The latest data indicate that in some urban settings more than  per cent of ante-natal clinic attendees are HIVinfected. The World Bank projects that life expectancy in sub-Saharan Africa by  will be  years (and without AIDS would have been  years). In addition the dependency ratio will change, with a projection for the region of about  million orphans by . Contrary to popular opinion, AIDS is not https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/40BB717FB75BD6F43D8CE4466CCC4AC3 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 54.191.40.80, on 09 Sep 2017 at 12:13:38, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms.