Poverty, AIDS and child health: Identifying highest-risk children in South Africa
Background: Identifying children at the highest risk of negative health effects is a prerequisite to effective public health policies in Southern Africa. A central ongoing debate is whether poverty, orphanhood or parental AIDS most reliably indicates child health risks. Attempts to address this key...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
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Health and Medical Publishing Group
2013
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/31997 |
| _version_ | 1848753539380150272 |
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| author | Cluver, L. Boyes, Mark Orkin, M. Sherr, L. |
| author_facet | Cluver, L. Boyes, Mark Orkin, M. Sherr, L. |
| author_sort | Cluver, L. |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Background: Identifying children at the highest risk of negative health effects is a prerequisite to effective public health policies in Southern Africa. A central ongoing debate is whether poverty, orphanhood or parental AIDS most reliably indicates child health risks. Attempts to address this key question have been constrained by a lack of data allowing distinction of AIDS-specific parental death or morbidity from other causes of orphanhood and chronic illness. Objectives: To examine whether household poverty, orphanhood and parental illness (by AIDS or other causes) independently or interactively predict child health, developmental and HIV-infection risks. Methods: We interviewed 6 002 children aged 10 - 17 years in 2009 - 2011, using stratified random sampling in six urban and rural sites across three South African provinces. Outcomes were child mental health risks, educational risks and HIV-infection risks. Regression models that controlled for socio-demographic co-factors tested potential impacts and interactions of poverty, AIDS-specific and other orphanhood and parental illness status. Results: Household poverty independently predicted child mental health and educational risks, AIDS orphanhood independently predicted mental health risks and parental AIDS illness independently predicted mental health, educational and HIV-infection risks. Interaction effects of poverty with AIDS orphanhood and parental AIDS illness were found across all outcomes. No effects, or interactions with poverty, were shown by AIDS-unrelated orphanhood or parental illness.Conclusions: The identification of children at highest risk requires recognition and measurement of both poverty and parental AIDS. This study shows negative impacts of poverty and AIDS-specific vulnerabilities distinct from orphanhood and adult illness more generally. Additionally, effects of interaction between family AIDS and poverty suggest that, where these co-exist, children are at highest risk of all. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T08:26:07Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-31997 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T08:26:07Z |
| publishDate | 2013 |
| publisher | Health and Medical Publishing Group |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-319972017-09-13T15:17:09Z Poverty, AIDS and child health: Identifying highest-risk children in South Africa Cluver, L. Boyes, Mark Orkin, M. Sherr, L. paediatrics HIV/AIDS child health poverty Background: Identifying children at the highest risk of negative health effects is a prerequisite to effective public health policies in Southern Africa. A central ongoing debate is whether poverty, orphanhood or parental AIDS most reliably indicates child health risks. Attempts to address this key question have been constrained by a lack of data allowing distinction of AIDS-specific parental death or morbidity from other causes of orphanhood and chronic illness. Objectives: To examine whether household poverty, orphanhood and parental illness (by AIDS or other causes) independently or interactively predict child health, developmental and HIV-infection risks. Methods: We interviewed 6 002 children aged 10 - 17 years in 2009 - 2011, using stratified random sampling in six urban and rural sites across three South African provinces. Outcomes were child mental health risks, educational risks and HIV-infection risks. Regression models that controlled for socio-demographic co-factors tested potential impacts and interactions of poverty, AIDS-specific and other orphanhood and parental illness status. Results: Household poverty independently predicted child mental health and educational risks, AIDS orphanhood independently predicted mental health risks and parental AIDS illness independently predicted mental health, educational and HIV-infection risks. Interaction effects of poverty with AIDS orphanhood and parental AIDS illness were found across all outcomes. No effects, or interactions with poverty, were shown by AIDS-unrelated orphanhood or parental illness.Conclusions: The identification of children at highest risk requires recognition and measurement of both poverty and parental AIDS. This study shows negative impacts of poverty and AIDS-specific vulnerabilities distinct from orphanhood and adult illness more generally. Additionally, effects of interaction between family AIDS and poverty suggest that, where these co-exist, children are at highest risk of all. 2013 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/31997 10.7196/SAMJ.7045 Health and Medical Publishing Group fulltext |
| spellingShingle | paediatrics HIV/AIDS child health poverty Cluver, L. Boyes, Mark Orkin, M. Sherr, L. Poverty, AIDS and child health: Identifying highest-risk children in South Africa |
| title | Poverty, AIDS and child health: Identifying highest-risk children in South Africa |
| title_full | Poverty, AIDS and child health: Identifying highest-risk children in South Africa |
| title_fullStr | Poverty, AIDS and child health: Identifying highest-risk children in South Africa |
| title_full_unstemmed | Poverty, AIDS and child health: Identifying highest-risk children in South Africa |
| title_short | Poverty, AIDS and child health: Identifying highest-risk children in South Africa |
| title_sort | poverty, aids and child health: identifying highest-risk children in south africa |
| topic | paediatrics HIV/AIDS child health poverty |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/31997 |