What Works for Women and Girls

discriminated unjustly against them” (Visser et al., 2005: 340). (Gray V) (support groups,South Africa)A qualitative study of interviews with 75 HIV-positive people (43 females, 32 males)from 20 countries, including Australia, Botswana, India, Kenya, South Africa, Thailand,Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, conducted between 1997 and 1999, found that womenwere more likely to seek peer support than men and that peer support groups were “lifelines”(Paxton, 2002: 563). (Gray V) (PLHA, support groups, Australia, Botswana, India,Kenya, South Africa, Thailand, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe)Promising Strategies:3. Linking outside assistance from home- and community-based care programs with householdcare can be effective in meeting the needs of HIV/AIDS-affected families.A study of six home-based care programs in South Africa (year not specified) found thata range of 10 expressed needs of program beneficiaries were met by household membersalone, by household members and outside help, and by outside help alone, with someunmet need, particularly for financial aid. The six programs represented programs thatwork in rural areas and informal settlements. Data were collected through a householdsurvey of 374 clients, focus group discussions with 59 program beneficiaries and 53caregivers, financial records and service statistics, and interviews with financial officers,program managers and caregivers. The largest expressed need was for emotional/spiritualsupport through counseling (over 80%), following by physical care, nursing care,chores and information (from 55–70%), transportation, financial aid, family care andlegal aid (from 20–35%), and sanitation (around 5%). Beneficiaries looked to outsidehelp particularly for counseling, nursing care, information, transportation, family careand legal aid. They looked least to outside help for household chores. Even with outsidehelp, the study found that household caregivers spent more time per week assisting theperson living with HIV/AIDS then the outside caregiver. The qualitative componentof the research found that respondents indicated that they had unmet needs related tofinancial aid, access to medical care and emotional care. (Homan, et al., 2005). (GrayIII) (community-based care, South Africa)A cross-sectional study in Kenya with 1,123 OVC, ages 8–14, and 771 guardians (2007)found that guardians with a community health worker (CHW) doing regular homevisits over an average of ten months reported lower rates of perceived social marginalization,better family functioning and more positive attitudes towards OVC undertheir care than guardians without a CHW. Further, guardian and child reports suggestmore positive psychosocial wellbeing among OVC living in homes visited by a CHW(Thurman et al., 2008b). (Abstract) (OVC, community health workers, Kenya)WHAT WORKS FOR WOMEN AND GIRLS351