Why HIV and AIDS care in the home?

t is estimated that up to 90 percent of illness care is provided in the home by untrained family and associates, and up to 80 percent of AIDS-related deaths occur in the home.¹ This location of care is determined greatly by the scale of the epidemic.

In many African countries the adult prevalence rate is over 15%, with the number of infected people as high as 5.7 million in South Africa1.5 million in Mozambique and 2.6 million in Nigeria. Typically, countries with high prevalence have overstretched health systems, a lack of resources and among the lowest levels of hospital beds and health workers per person. The massive epidemic itself contributes to the overburdened health sector. In Kenya, for example, 50-60% of public hospital beds are occupied by HIV patients.²

Country	Doctors per 1000 population3	Nurses per 1000 population4	Adult (15-49) HIV Prevalence5
Tanzania	0.02	0.37	6.2%
Namibia	0.30	3.06	15.3%
Botswana	0.40	2.65	23.9%
United States	2.56	9.37	0.6%
France	3.37	7.24	0.4%
Cuba	5.91	7.44	0.1%

There are relatively few health workers per person in many African countries making the home the likely location of HIV and AIDS care.