The influence of motivational messages on future planning behaviors among HIV concordant positive and discordant couples in Lusaka, Zambia.

In Zambia the HIV/AIDS epidemic has resulted in many single female-headed households. Strong patriarchal laws and customs prevent widows and children from maintaining economic assets. This study examines the impact of a video-based motivational intervention promoting future planning in 1,504 HIV-infected couples in Lusaka, Zambia. Following a group video session, couples randomized to the motivational arm could choose to write a will, identify a guardian for their children and make financial plans. Desirable behaviours modelled in the motivational video were measured at quarterly intervals for a year and compared in intervention and control arms. Demographic measures including age, income and educational status were not associated with planning behaviours. Participation in the intervention was associated with will writing (23% versus 5%) and naming a guardian (32% versus 17%) but not with other planning behaviours. The study demonstrates the ability of motivational messages integrated into HIV VCT to encourage future planning behaviour and points to the need to expand existing HIV and VCT services to meet other non-health needs of those living with HIV.

Property grabbing and will writing in Lusaka, Zambia: an examination of wills of HIV-infected cohabiting couples.

High rates of HIV and poverty place women in a precarious economic situation in Lusaka, Zambia. Mortality from HIV infection is high, leaving many households single headed and creating almost a half a million orphans. One of the most prevalent forms of gender violence that creates poverty in women is when the male's family claims the property of the deceased from the widow and the children. The Zambia-Emory HIV Research Project collected 184 wills from individuals in monogamous unions where one or both of the individuals were HIV-positive. Despite the fact that many wills specifically stated that their extended family was not allowed to tamper with their possessions in the event of death, property grabbing proved to be a prevalent and difficult issue in Lusaka. In order to improve the lives of widowed women in Lusaka, the government and other civic and non-governmental organisations must inform women of their rights to own and protect their land and other assets in the event of their husbands' death, an issue of increasing importance in the area of HIV/AIDS.