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Striving for Normality in a Time of AIDS in Malawi

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  • Pauline Peters
  • Peter A. Walker
  • Daimon Kambewa

Abstract

Drawing on a twenty-year study, we examine the effects of HIV-related illness and death on villagers in Malawi during 2006. Contrary to unidimensional images of an AIDS disaster, we found people striving for normality - trying to control the abnormal circumstances of the rising toll of HIV-related illness and death. Just over 40% of the sample households had experienced at least one death (certainly to likely) related to HIV, but only about 10% were found to be suffering acute or serious livelihood stress due to HIV deaths. The ability to deal with illness and death depended on households’ preexisting characteristics, particularly income level and, critically, on their placement in the extended matrilineal family. But increasing pressures on an already severely stressed population, and failure of the current ‘community-based’ approach to deliver needed help argue for more concerted efforts to link the HIV epidemic to broader based development.

Suggested Citation

  • Pauline Peters & Peter A. Walker & Daimon Kambewa, 2008. "Striving for Normality in a Time of AIDS in Malawi," CID Working Papers 167, Center for International Development at Harvard University.
    • Handle: RePEc:cid:wpfacu:167
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    File URL: https://www.hks.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/centers/cid/files/publications/faculty-working-papers/167.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Bansi Malde & Marcos Vera-Hernández, 2022. "Spillovers of Community-Based Health Interventions on Consumption Smoothing," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 70(4), pages 1591-1629.
    2. Swidler, Ann & Watkins, Susan Cotts, 2009. ""Teach a Man to Fish": The Sustainability Doctrine and Its Social Consequences," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(7), pages 1182-1196, July.
    3. Rachel Bezner Kerr, 2012. "Lessons from the old Green Revolution for the new: Social, environmental and nutritional issues for agricultural change in Africa," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 12(2-3), pages 213-229, July.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    HIV/AIDS; household livelihoods; longitudinal analysis; Malawi; Africa; anthropological analysis;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R20 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - General
    • Z1 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics

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