ABSTRACT
Across southern Africa, policy-makers are promoting home-based care for HIV/
AIDS patients as a cheaper alternative to hospital care.
However, cost studies
have not sufficiently considered the costs and benefits to all stakeholders in
home-based care.1 Drawing on existing literature, this study shows that available
data are grossly inadequate for a comprehensive assessment of the costeffectiveness of home-based care. Previous studies have largely ignored many of
the costs associated with home-based care, which is currently borne by unpaid
caregivers – predominantly women – as well as the value of their unpaid labor.
This study questions the assumption that home-based care is cheaper than
hospital care and the wisdom of enacting home-based care policies. This study
argues that conclusions about the cheaper form of care can be drawn only by
assessing all of the
https://genderlibrary.org/a/images/papers/UnpaidAIDSCareFeministEconomicspublishedversion.pdf