All over the world women look after the weak and the sick. In AIDS-affected areas, women (often older women) assume of the burden of caring for ill relatives and friends - usually with minimal support. They also take care of children and the elderly, cook, clean, and, in subsistence areas, fetch water and firewood. Women are also deeply involved in work at the community level.

The extent of the combined burden of domestic work and care is rarely acknowledged. Its value is generally underestimated.

As the crisis deepens in Africa, girls are being taken out of school to provide home-based care. In Swaziland, school enrolment was estimated to have fallen by 36 per cent due to AIDS, with girls being most affected. At the same time, grandmothers, aunts, and cousins may be caring for orphaned children from several families.

Conditions are most difficult in rural areas. Many people who migrated to cities in search of work return home to their villages to be taken care of. Since most healthcare facilities in developing countries are located in or near urban centres, women in rural villages have little support. Few have received any training and supplies are minimal.

Some initiatives exist to provide information about AIDS care to care givers. These need to be stepped up, and complemented with practical measures to provide economic support to caregivers, along with practical help so they can access pensions and other entitlements for themselves and those they are caring for.