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that also caused breeding of flies that could cause infections to both the affected the infected
families:
“…You find that in these communities people stay in dirty places. You see what happens,
there is running dirty water, people dump rotten food, bath water after bathing themselves or
cleaning, washing or bathing a patients so it becomes very filthy with a lot of flies and the
pipes get blocked and that’s where they even get their drinking water from. They leave
squashed up in small places called shacks with everyone in there including T.B, HIV/AIDS
patients they don’t open windows so they keep on infecting each other”
(Focus group 8, organisation H)
To deal with such challenges, Volunteer caregivers shared their knowledge through educating
family members and other community members about hygiene; the use of protective clothing
and proper waste disposal to prevent infections:
“In that household you teach the family that hygiene is very important because it prevents a
lot of diseases and infections. You teach them that they should open the windows for fresh
air, particularly when there is someone who is sick. We teach them how to take care of the
HIV/AIDS patient and also how to protect themselves from getting T.B especially if it is
MDR. We tell them that they should always throw rubbish in a bin. They should wash their
hands all the time and be clean. If they do not have a pit where they could throw rubbish,
they should dig one. And cleaning the surfaces is important they need to be tidy.”
4.6.8 Insufficient supply of water
(Focus group 10, organisation J)
Volunteer caregivers need water to practice hygiene such as washing soiled linen and bathing
the patient. Poor hygiene causes the spread of infections and could deteriorate the health of
patients. Volunteer caregivers mentioned that there was no supply of water for days in some
homes:
“Water here has mood swings, it comes and goes so they announce with the truck for you to
know when and draw and store in advance sometime we go and fetch it in some areas where
water is available.”(Focus group 1, organisation A)
In order to continue providing care to their patients, volunteer caregivers dealt with this
challenge by taking their own 2 litre containers of water and sometimes they went to fetch
from nearby areas that had water:
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