Gender Roles

Alleviating the Burden of Responsibility: Men as Providers of Community-Based HIV/AIDS Care and Support in Lesotho

In Lesotho, as in many other countries, the HIV and AIDS care burden falls on the shoulders of women and girls in unpaid, invisible household and community work. This gender inequity in HRH needs to be addressed to ensure fair and sustainable responses to the need for home and community-based HIV/AIDS care and support. The Capacity Project addressed these issues through a study of men as providers of HIV/AIDS care and support. [from author]

Men and Care in the Context of HIV and AIDS: Structure, Political Will and Greater Male Involvement

AIDS is a long and debilitating illness that renders patients unable to fend for themselves. In wealthy countries, health systems provide much of the necessary care; in the developing world, however, the burden is taken up by family and community members, a large majority of whom are women. This paper outlines some of the causes of this imbalance and makes recommendations for governments as they attempt to address the problem. [adapted from introduction]

Alleviating the Burden of Responsibility: Report on a Study of Men as Providers of Community-Based HIV/AIDS Care and Support in Lesotho

This report details the work of the the Capacity Project assistance to the Lesotho Ministry of Health and Social Welfare to strengthen its capacity to respond to the HIV/AIDS pandemic by addressing gender segregation in nonformal caregiving through the active engagement of men as providers of community and home-based HIV/AIDS care and support. [adapted from foreword]

Men's Partnership in Maternal Health (Jordan)

This video resource shows that despite the awareness advancement regarding reproductive health, women in Jordan still bear the burden of their health alone. This is especially true in rural areas; however, despite social criticism, men have decided to stand by their wives. [adapted from synopsis]

Men's Partnership in Maternal Health (Tajikistan)

This video resource details the social, economic and health care services disparities between urban and rural areas of Tajikistan and how women there struggle with their health and the role of men, or the lack thereof, in supporting them. [adapted from synopsis]

Freedom to Do the Job: Barriers to Female Health Workers Practicing in Pakistan

Pakistan has introduced female health workers to make sure that women are able to receive the health care they need. However, these health workers face the same cultural constraints as other women in their society. Male colleagues and managers must be more supportive to female health workers, whilst formal structures should be provided for training and effective complaints procedures. [from author]

Gendered Home-Based Care in South Africa: More Trouble for the Troubled

This study investigates the experiences of informal caregivers of people living with HIV in two semi-rural communities in South Africa. It is argued that a thorough understanding of how home-based care undermines the physical health and psychological wellbeing of already vulnerable women is crucial for informing policies on home-based care. Thus, there is a need to incorporate gender perspectives when planning and implementing home-based care programs. [from abstract]

Integrating Gender in Human Resources for Health (HRH) Projects

These training modules and handouts provide the materials to conduct a two day workshop designed to help participants define gender and related concepts; understand the continuum of gender as it relates to integration in projects; understand the six domains of gender and related questions; apply a process for gender analysis to HRH contexts; understand where and how gender can be integrated in HRH country strategies. [adapted from author]

Involving Young People in the Care and Support of People Living with HIV/AIDS in Zambia

Horizons, in collaboration with CARE International and Family Health Trust, conducted a quasiexperimental intervention study to determine which care and support needs of people living with HIV and AIDS and their families could be met by trained youth, and to establish whether youth engaged in formalized care and support activities would increase their adoption of protective behaviors or reduce the stigma faced by members of AIDS-affected households.

The study was conducted in semi-urban and rural communities in two provinces of northern Zambia located 700 to 1,000 kilometers from Lusaka.