The evolving impact of HIV/AIDS on outpatient health services in Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa.

Unlabelled: BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE; The high HIV prevalence in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) places immense pressure on the health system. The burden of HIV/AIDS on health services is evolving as the epidemic progresses and as antiretroviral treatment becomes more widely available. For health policy makers and managers, timely and appropriate information is needed to facilitate adaptive management of health services.

Exploring the Cinderella myth: intrahousehold differences in child wellbeing between orphans and non-orphans in Amajuba District, South Africa.

Objective: To determine whether differences in wellbeing (defined by a variety of education and health outcomes) exist between recent school-aged orphans and non-orphans who live in the same household in a context of high HIV/AIDS mortality in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa.

Design: The data come from the first 2 years (2004-2006) of an ongoing 3-year longitudinal cohort study in a district in KwaZulu-Natal, the Amajuba Child Health and Well-being Research Project. Using stratified cluster sampling based on school and age, we constructed a cohort of 197 recent orphans and 528 non-orphans aged 9-16 years and their households and caregivers.