Abstract
The historical record of humankind has been punctuated by epochs of great calamity and catastrophes. These have been through natural disasters or man-made causes, and these occurrences have in most cases led to innovations and discoveries to thwart the impending consequences. The most devastating has been the prevalence of diseases, which have decimated communities. In Europe, such scourges like bubonic plague, tuberculosis and many others led to communities adopting myriad survival strategies in response to these threats. This cyclical trend is currently being experienced around the globe and more especially in the developing countries, vis-à-vis the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
The impact of HIV/AIDS on communities is leading to fundamental changes in the socio-economic fabric, and consequently to diverse livelihood strategies being adopted by both the victims and their dependants. The social effects of the loss of a breadwinner or head of the household result in an increase of orphans, child-headed households and dependants. The resultant livelihood strategies adopted from this scenario stretch from legal to illegal activities, and the latter being more pronounced in an urban context.
The epidemic has also had other social implications in terms of the service delivery capacity of governments and other developmental role-players in alleviating the poverty exacerbated by this disease. The non-availability of a vaccine, skewed national health policies and the high price levels of existing short-term medications further worsen the problem of at least making the affected population become economically active and expand their livelihoods.
HIV/AIDS cuts across the socio-economic status divide of any community and thus cannot only be associated or ascribed to the poor segment of a given population. The livelihood strategies of the affluent differ widely from the low-income group –more especially given the fact that the former have fiscal livelihood portfolios in place for risk aversion. For the poor segment of the community, the livelihood strategies continuum would entail basic activities to entitlements provided by the state in its social policy framework.
This study will explore the livelihood strategy dynamics of an urban context; with a special emphasis on the HIV/AIDS support groups and community-based organizations in Mamelodi Township.
Mr. H. Mushonga