What Works for Women and Girls

4. Training men to provide voluntary home care assistance can ease the burden of home carefor women.A study of Africare’s Male Empowerment Project in Zimbabwe from 2003 to 2004 whichtrained 80 male home care volunteers to provide basic nursing care, infection control,and psychosocial support found that the trained male caregivers reduced the workloadof the primary caregivers, who were primarily women. Clients felt that the simple factthat “‘someone cared enough to visit’ was motivation enough for living” (p. 10). Over80 percent gathered firewood and over 60 percent assisted with gardening and fetchingwater. Clients and caregivers were found to be supportive of the program, with primarycaregivers and clients giving credit to the voluntary caregivers for improving the mentalhealth and physical well being of the clients. While voluntary caregivers assisted withbasic household chores, skills that are not traditionally assigned to men such as feedingwere less readily undertaken. This project proved successful in increasing men’s acceptanceof providing care to people living with AIDS. The study used a questionnaire priorto the intervention and then 18 months later, two focus groups and five in-depth interviews.The male volunteers received training, covering topics such as HIV transmissionand prevention, communication on sensitive topics, life planning, basic nursing careand end of life care. Lack of salary presented problems for the men who were lookingto offset the time that could have been spent in income generation. Frequent in-servicetraining and monitoring was recommended for home-based care. (Johnson et al., 2007).(Gray III) (community-based care, men, Zimbabwe)5. Training young people to provide voluntary home care assistance can ease the burden ofhome care for women.A Horizons project in rural Zambia assessed the strategy of building young people’scapacity to provide care and support to people living with HIV and AIDS. Members ofyouth anti-AIDS clubs in schools and communities were trained as adjunct caregivers,using a locally developed curriculum that allowed them to explore and challenge genderednotions of caregiving, and that emphasized networking with existing resources. Resultsshow that caregiving increased among males (47% to 82%) and females (41% to 78%).Both sexes provided similar caregiving services, including help with household choresand personal care tasks. Youth also undertook activities with children to decrease theirisolation, help them stay in school, and reach additional services. While clients andcaregivers reported positive aspects of the programme, both reported frustration withthe youths’ inability to meet material needs. This study demonstrates that trained youthalready involved in anti-AIDS efforts can meet a range of care needs and be valuableassets to their community. It also highlights the importance of communicating clearlywhat youth can and cannot do, ongoing monitoring and support of youth caregivers,and involving community leaders to give youth credibility and access to local resources.(Esu-Williams et al., 2006). (Gray III) (community-based care, youth, Zambia)352 CHAPTER 12 CARE AND SUPPORT