Investigators: Dane So, Co-I, Sochanny Hak, Co-I, John McAndrew, Co-I, Chandore Khuon, Co-I.
Description:
This Analyzing Development Issues study focuses on the care giving experiences of older-age people with children/household relatives on Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) in six communes of Banteay Meanchey province in northwest Cambodia. The study employs quantitative and qualitative methods. In May 2008 a total 108 people 50 years and older with People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLHA) children on ART living in the same or different households or with PLHA relatives on ART living in the same household were purposively surveyed in six communes of Banteay Meanchey province. In July 2008 about 20 of the 108 survey respondents were approached again and interviewed in qualitative in-depth interviews. Preliminary findings of the research indicate that in 101 or 94 percent of the 108 households surveyed elderly respondents and/or their spouses provided care to their HIV/AIDS children/household relatives and that in these households elderly women comprised 82 percent of the primary care givers. Meanwhile slightly more than 90 percent of the elderly respondents incurred expenses for the care and treatment of their HIV/AIDS children/household relatives on ART. While more than 40 percent of the elderly respondents complained of poor or very poor health, the elders generally did not associate specific health complaints with the consequences of care giving.
The use of ART resulted in improved health for almost all of the elders’ children/household relatives and enabled them to care for themselves. Nearly three-fourths of the respondents reported ART recipient children/household relatives who were able to return to work and more than half reported ART recipient children/household relatives who were able to contribute to the income of the elders’ households. While the time spent by the elders in care giving dropped sharply after ART use, the elderly respondents remained actively involved in reminding the ART recipients to take their medications. Government health workers provided some instruction to the elderly caregivers in ART use although only half of the elderly respondents attended support group meetings for PLHA. The study underscores the critical role of older age people in care giving for HIV/AIDS positive children and household relatives on ART and reveals meaningful opportunities for involving elders more proactively in government and NGO programs designed for HIV/AIDS prevention, care, and treatment.
Coverage: Cambodia.