Obligation to family during times of transition: care, support and the response to HIV and AIDS in rural South Africa

ABSTRACT

In rural South Africa, high HIV prevalence has the potential to affect the care and support that kin are able to provide to those living with HIV. Despite this, families seem to be largely resilient and a key source of care and support to family affected by HIV. In this article, we explore the motivations for the provision of care and support by kin. We use the results of a small-scale in-depth qualitative study conducted in 10 households over 6 months in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, to show that family obligation and conditional reciprocity operate in varying degrees and build social capital. We highlight the complexity of kin relations where obligation is not guaranteed or is limited, requiring the consideration of policy measures that provide means of social support that are not reliant on the family.

KEYWORDS:

• HIV
• family
• care
• support
• reciprocity
• obligation
• South Africa

Acknowledgements

An early version of the paper was presented at the XIX International AIDS Conference, 2012 held in Washington, DC.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Lucia Knight http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9938-6887

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by a UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) postgraduate studentship linked to an ESRC/Department of International Development funded research project [Grant number RES-167-25-0076].