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. 2020 Jun;27(2):6-16.
doi: 10.1177/1757975918774569. Epub 2018 Jun 14.

Challenges of developing a district child welfare plan in South Africa: lessons from a community-engaged HIV/AIDS research project

Jennifer Beard  1 , Anne Skalicky  1 , Busisiwe Nkosi  2 , Tom Zhuwau  3 , Mandisa Cakwe  3 , Jonathon Simon  1   4 , Mary Bachman DeSilva  1   5
Affiliations

Challenges of developing a district child welfare plan in South Africa: lessons from a community-engaged HIV/AIDS research project

Jennifer Beard et al. Glob Health Promot. 2020 Jun.

Abstract

The Amajuba Child Health and Wellbeing Research Project measured the impact of orphaning due to HIV/AIDS on South African households between 2004 and 2007. Community engagement was a central component of the project and extended through 2010. We describe researcher engagement with the community to recruit participants, build local buy-in, stimulate interest in study findings, and promote integration of government social welfare services for families and children affected by HIV/AIDS. This narrative documents the experience of researchers, drawing also on project reports, public documents, and published articles, with the objective of documenting lessons learned in this collaboration between researchers from two universities and a community in South Africa during a period that spanned seven years. This experience is then analyzed within the context of an applied research, community-engagement framework.

Keywords: HIV/AIDS; South Africa; child welfare policy; community engagement; global health; orphans.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of conflicting interests

The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.

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