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The Impacts of the HIV/AIDS Pandemic and Socioeconomic Development on the Living Arrangements of Older Persons in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Country-Level Analysis

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American Journal of Community Psychology

Abstract

This study investigates whether socioeconomic development and the HIV/AIDS pandemic are associated with living arrangement patterns in older persons in 23 sub-Saharan African countries. Country-level aggregate data were taken from previous household surveys and information provided by the United Nations, the World Bank, and the World Health Organization. Results showed that 13.5% of older persons (aged 60 years or over) were living with grandchildren but not adult children (i.e., skipped generation households). Countries higher in HIV/AIDS prevalence had more skipped generation households, and also more older persons living with spouse only and fewer older persons living with other relatives. Countries with higher socioeconomic development had fewer older persons living with children younger than 25 years old and more living with spouse only or with other relatives and unrelated persons. The pandemic and socioeconomic development combine to accelerate the breakdown of the extended family structure so that older persons are less and less likely to reside with, and to receive support from, their children.

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Notes

  1. Abbreviations are used for certain corporate authors in this article, as follows: HAI = HelpAge International; IMF = International Monetary Fund; PEPFAR = U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief; UN = United Nations; UNAIDS = Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS; UNICEF = United Nations Children’s Fund; USAID = United States Agency for International Development; WHO = World Health Organization.

  2. For the definitions of orphans, we quote from UNICEF (2009), “UNICEF and numerous international organizations adopted the broader definition of orphan in the mid-1990s as the AIDS pandemic began leading to the death of millions of parents worldwide, leaving an ever increasing number of children growing up without one or more parents. So the terminology of a ‘single orphan’—the loss of one parent—and a ‘double orphan’—the loss of both parents—was born to convey this growing crisis.” This definition is particularly relevant for the SSA situation because, as discussed later in the article, the surviving parent, particularly the father, often does not live with his or her children after the spouse died.

  3. Of note, recent reports from Cote d’Ivoire, Tanzania, and Zambia, indicate that school attendance rates were in fact higher among orphans than non-orphans. This may be credited in part to orphan-focused initiates from international agencies such as PEPFAR (UNAIDS 2008).

  4. The mortality age due to AIDS-related diseases is decreasing. Those aged 20–29 and 30–39 now have the highest mortality rate in sub-Saharan Africa (UNAIDS 2006).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Applied Social Studies, City University of Hong Kong, 83 Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon, Hong Kong

    Sheung-Tak Cheng

  2. Program in Community Research & Action, Peabody College, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA

    Benjamin Siankam

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  1. Sheung-Tak Cheng
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  2. Benjamin Siankam
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Correspondence to Sheung-Tak Cheng.

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Cheng, ST., Siankam, B. The Impacts of the HIV/AIDS Pandemic and Socioeconomic Development on the Living Arrangements of Older Persons in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Country-Level Analysis. Am J Community Psychol 44, 136–147 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-009-9243-y

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