Mathambo Vuyiswa, Gibbs Andy
Child, Youth, Family and Social Development, Human Sciences Research Council, Durban, South Africa.
AIDS Care. 2009;21 Suppl 1(S1):22-7. doi: 10.1080/09540120902942949.
Families are subjected to a number of social, economic, political and demographic challenges. In recent years, the AIDS epidemic has constituted a major challenge for already poor families due to its wide reaching social, economic and health consequences. The devastating consequence of HIV and AIDS is being seen through the prolonged illness and death of family members of prime working age which impacts on family livelihoods and the ability to provide for and protect its members. This paper forms part of a review - commissioned by the Joint Learning Initiative on Children and HIV/AIDS - of qualitative studies of how families in southern Africa have changed, and are changing, as a result of the impact of HIV and AIDS. This paper presents results of how extended family childcare arrangements are changing as a result of the AIDS epidemic. In a southern African context, family denotes a wider array of relations than biological parents and their children - with children growing up amongst a multitude of relations sharing responsibility for their care and upbringing (Chirwa, 2002; Verhoef, 2005). Recently, there has been growing interest in the capacity of the extended family to care for the increasing number of children whose parents have died. However, literature on the role of the extended family in caring for orphaned children remains contradictory. One approach - the social rupture thesis (Chirwa, 2002) - suggests that the extended family network is collapsing under the strain of AIDS. On the other hand, families are portrayed as resilient and dynamic entities which are adapting their systems of childcare in response to the epidemic (Kuo,2007). In line with Abebe and Aase (2007) and Adams, Cekan, and Sauerborn (1998), this paper proposes a continuum of survival rather than a polarisation of extended family childcare arrangements.
家庭面临着一系列社会、经济、政治和人口方面的挑战。近年来，艾滋病疫情因其广泛的社会、经济和健康影响，对本就贫困的家庭构成了重大挑战。艾滋病毒和艾滋病的毁灭性后果体现在主要工作年龄家庭成员的长期患病和死亡上，这影响了家庭生计以及照顾和保护其成员的能力。本文是由儿童与艾滋病毒/艾滋病联合学习倡议委托进行的一项综述的一部分，该综述旨在对定性研究进行回顾，这些研究探讨了南部非洲家庭因艾滋病毒和艾滋病的影响如何发生了变化以及正在发生怎样的变化。本文呈现了由于艾滋病疫情大家庭育儿安排如何发生变化的研究结果。在南部非洲背景下，家庭所涵盖的关系比亲生父母及其子女更为广泛，孩子们在众多分担照顾和养育责任的亲属中成长（奇尔瓦，2002年；韦尔霍夫，2005年）。最近，人们越来越关注大家庭照顾父母双亡儿童数量不断增加的能力。然而，关于大家庭在照顾孤儿方面作用的文献仍然存在矛盾之处。一种观点——社会破裂论（奇尔瓦，2002年）——认为大家庭网络在艾滋病的压力下正在瓦解。另一方面，家庭被描绘成有韧性和活力的实体，它们正在调整育儿体系以应对疫情（郭，2007年）。与阿贝贝和阿斯（2007年）以及亚当斯、采坎和绍尔伯恩（1998年）的观点一致，本文提出的是大家庭育儿安排的生存连续体，而非两极分化。
