The Contribution Of Hiv/Aids On Family Dissolution In Makete District, Tanzania

ABSTRACT

The impact of HIV/AIDS on family dissolution is one of the most serious problems facing

the world at this era of HIV/AIDS. The traditional African family is collapsing very

rapidly due to HIV/AIDS pandemic. Implications of having HIV/AIDS in the family have

been documented in many parts of the world. They range from increased medical costs

and expenditures on funerals to withdrawal of family members from work or school to

look after those who are ill. Also these problems lead to burdens to the family in terms of

human pain, suffering, health care expenditures, school requirements, child- headed

households and increased families headed by single parents. Although efforts have been

taken by the government and other partners to address these issues, the problems are still

rapidly increasing throughout the country and Makete in particular. If challenges that face

families are not examined, there is a danger of destroying a large and growing segment of

our young population. The overall objective of this study was to determine the impact of

HIV/AIDS on family dissolution. The study adopted a cross sectional design by using

open and closed ended questionnaires applied to a sample size of 135 respondents.

Interviews with key informants, individual in-depth and focus group discussions (FGD)

were also used during the study. The analysis of collected data was done using the

Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and the Statistical Analysis System (SAS).

A Logit regression model was used to estimate the influence of socio-cultural, socioeconomic

and other external factors on respondents’ family dissolution. Family dissolution

was high (42.6%) among households controlled by widows/widowers. The conclusion is

that, family dissolution in Makete is not much affected by migration but is much affected

by death of household members and economic hardship of the area. To ease this situation,

it is recommended that, among other things, new infections of HIV/AIDS should be

reduced in order to limit the number of widows and orphan headed households and to

improve economic well being of the people.