HIV/Aids pandemic and its Impact on Land Rights in Kombewa Division Since 1983

Abstract

This thesis has examined the relationship between HIV /AIDS and agranan processes in Kombewa since 1983. It has particularly focused on the extent to which \ HIV/AIDS has impacted on widow's and orphan's land~.rights. Th'ese rights include ability to own, acquire (through purchase, gift, or inheritance), manage, administer, enjoy, and dispose of land. The study has argued, inter alia, that vulnerable households affected by HIV/AIDS have faced difficult livelihoods choices as there limited resources are increasingly diverted to care and treatment of the infected persons. This has driven many poor households into destitution, increasing their vulnerability to infection and has significantly reduced their ability to cope with the consequences of the disease. The study's specific objectives included: (a) to analyze the unexpected consequences of land tenure reforms on those who hold secondary rights to land, such as women, widows and minors, and how these have provided a fault line that exacerbate the impacts of HIV/AIDS on land rights, (b) to discuss the risk environment that catalyze the spread of HIV/AIDS in Kornbewa since 1983, (c) to investigate the direct and indirect impacts of HIV/AIDS on widows' and orphans' ability to hold, use and transact land at the local level, (d) to evaluate the responses of traditional land management institutions to the issues concerning land rights in the context of HIV/AIDS, (e) to analyze the strategies developed and used by the widows and orphans to safeguard their land rights, and (f) to review the responses of the government and other non-governmental agencies towards the violation of widows and orphans land rights.