Challenges experienced by home based caregivers of HIV/AIDS patients in chifubukawama community, Ndola, Zambia

Abstract

Introduction: Home based care is an answered prayer in this era of HIV/AIDS, allowing the chronically ill people to spend their last days in familiar surroundings. Home based care was birthed for a noble cause such as this. As caregivers care for these patients, they experience challenges in terms of stress, burnout, stigma and discrimination among others, which could be due to social and psychosocial factors. The purpose of the study was to determine the challenges of home based caregivers for people living with HIV/AIDS in Chifubu-Kawama Community, concentrating on volunteer care givers. Methods: It was a quantitative study using convenient sampling methods. A questionnaire was used to collect data and the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 20.0 aided in the analysis. Results: Of the 30 care givers, 66.7% were female and 33.3% were males. The common age range was between 40 and 49 years. 86.7% reported long distance walking as challenging while lack of food by the patients was at 83.3% .The major challenges were lack of food by the patients, limited support from the health institution both in logistics and counseling services. Other challenges included scanty supply of healthy kits and need for more training. Conclusion:The importance of home based care cannot be overemphasized in this era of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Constant training and some stipends would motivate the care givers. Providing them with some staff support for monitoring and counseling would be idea, as everyone needs some encouragement from time to time.