Integral Human Development: Assessing the Impact of HIV/AIDS on Livelihoods in Rural Malawi

Research shows that HIV/AIDS has serious implications for the lives and livelihoods of rural households. In Malawi, where rural households balance limited sets of assets within dynamic environments, HIV/AIDS places an additional and often insurmountable constraint on livelihoods. Using the sustainable livelihood approach adopted by Catholic Relief Services known as the Integral Human Development framework, this research seeks to analyze the impact of HIV/AIDS on livelihoods among households in rural Malawi. More specifically, this research identifies the impact of HIV/AIDS on assets. The research consisted of two distinct layers: primary data collection and secondary analysis of primary data. Primary data collection was conducted by Catholic Relief Services as part of a disaster risk mitigation project in five rural communities in Malawi. Secondary analysis of primary data, conducted for the purpose of this paper, reveals that HIV/AIDS has created heightened vulnerability leading to the depletion of household assets, which are necessary to sustain livelihoods. The research further observes that the effects of HIV/AIDS on livelihoods and the strategies adopted to cope with them are comparable to food security shocks, such as drought or floods. The results of this research are compared to the existing body of research and are discussed as guides for future application of livelihood frameworks in the analysis of the relationship between HIV/AIDS and livelihoods among rural households in southern Africa