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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Problems of Water, AIDS and Home-Based Care: A Case Study from Rural Northern KwaZulu-Natal
Authors:Hutchings, AnneISNI
Buijs, GinaISNI
Year:2004
Periodical:Africanus
Volume:34
Issue:2
Pages:77-87
Language:English
Geographic term:South Africa
Subjects:water shortage
water supply
AIDS
health care
self-help
Agriculture, Natural Resources and the Environment
Development and Technology
Health and Nutrition
Abstract:Water problems in semi-arid Ntandabantu in northern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, include lack of access to piped water, poor household water conservation practices and unsuitability for further borehole development because of an underground coal seam that renders such water unpalatable. The hilly terrain and spread out nature of homesteads, linked mainly by rough paths and tracks, effectively isolate the poverty-stricken community, which has fallen prey to the current HIV/AIDS pandemic. Important influencing factors are the past high rate of male outmigration to the mines and the present ongoing migration of younger men and women to the towns to seek employment. This leaves the burden of caring for abandoned or orphaned children and for the often returned sick adults to the older women. The severe drought of the past few years has further inhibited the cultivation of food crops and also the development of craft work as a buffer against poverty. This article focuses on community understanding and experience of health and home-nursing problems associated with an inadequate and polluted water supply. The paper is based on fieldwork carried out over the last four years in Ntandabantu. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract]
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