Cultural aspects of adult fatal illness from AIDS and other causes: funeral costs, child fostering, inter-household transfers.
Int Conf AIDS 1993 Jun 6-11; 9:129 (abstract no. WS-D26-3) Lwihula G, Over M; University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
In a cross-section survey of 843 households in northwestern Tanzania, households experienced 1089 deaths in the last 12 months, of which 258 were household members and the rest were relatives of household members residing outside the household. For household members, households reported spending approximately 50% more on funerals than they did on medical care prior to death. Households also contributed substantially to help pay for deaths of relatives living elsewhere, spending about one-eight as much for these deaths as for those in their own households. But for deaths elsewhere, households spend four times as much on funeral expenses as on medical expenses. Funeral expenditures on a death depend on the age and socio-economic status of the deceased, but not on whether the death was caused by AIDS. The paper also describes the living arrangements of children according to whether their parents have died and by cause of death: AIDS or other causes. The study finds substantial child fostering in this culture even in the absence of adult death.
Keywords: AEGIS, Foster Home Care, Family Characteristics, Costs and Cost Analysis, Health Expenditures, Cause of Death, Child Welfare, Tanzania, Child, Adult, Human, etiology, ethnology, economics, ICA9 930606
WSD263
