Abstract
This dissertation explores four key questions within the HIV/AIDS paradigm1 and the
impact it is having on orphans and vulnerable children in the district of Quthing, Lesotho.
These questions are: What is the status of social safety nets? How are communities
surviving with the growing number of orphans and vulnerable children? What might be
the early warning signs of community breaking points as a new category of child-headed
household emerges? What are the human drivers of the pandemic in terms of behaviour
and attitudes towards HIV/AIDS, orphans and vulnerable children, and sex; and in terms
of reasons why people are not heeding the warning signs and adopting behaviour change?
The findings of the dissertation reveal that communities are overwhelmed with the
demands placed on them to support orphans and vulnerable children to the point where
culture, traditions, and society at large are showing early warning signs of irreversible
strain. Despite the efforts of government, donors, the humanitarian sector and the
communities themselves, awareness of HIV/AIDS is not translating into behavioural
change and as such the spread of the virus continues unabated among the youngest and
most vulnerable groups.
1 The set of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that constitutes a way of viewing reality for the
community that shares them, especially in an intellectual discipline.
ii
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/4684 |
| Date | 18 March 2008 |
| Creators | Huggins, Michael W. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 615648 bytes, application/pdf, application/pdf |
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